Everything we see around us is relative to everything else we see around us. Small is smaller than big, huge is bigger than large and minuscule is smaller than tiny.

All meaningless really without the context of everything we are comparing everything else with.

To me this makes macro images so interesting because our whole paradigm of comparison becomes useless.

When I look at an image created under a microscope my mind desperately tries to relate what is sees to things we know. More often than not I see things that match objects I am more familiar with.

In this case I however I have the upper hand. I observed my subject from a distance in the world of ‘the normal’, swam up close to it (there’s a hint for you) then photographed a small part in macro.

Of course its a collection of orange pebbles in rice, … or is it?

Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Orange Pebbles in Rice’ 1/160s f/22 ISO320 100mm