This life sized wooden sculpture of a Native American chieftain stands outside the one saloon in this mountain crossroads hamlet. I was struck by the power of the detail brought out by the sculptor's chisel. I moved in very close to define the craftsmanship that went into this effort by emphasizing those key details that bring out the character of the piece. This image reveals traces of the paint that perhaps originally covered it. As the paint vanished, the craft emerges.

The detail here is overwhelming. The dominant details are the statues of St. Francis and a native figure. This 18th century façade was designed to draw the eye and tell a story, and it is the massive wealth of detail that provides the decorative embellishment designed to impress and inspire.

The US battleship “Arizona,” was sent to the bottom of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 by Japanese torpedoes, igniting the Second World War. The ship, along with the remains of over a thousand sailors, is still entombed in the mud at the bottom Pearl Harbor. Fortunately for history, its lavish silver service, used for state dinners when the ship was touring the world in the 1930s, was not aboard the Arizona when it was destroyed. The sterling silver plates, pitchers, bowls, and servers were away for refinishing. Today, the silver service is displayed under Plexiglas in the Arizona State Capitol Museum. I brought my lens very close to the case displaying an ornate serving bowl to avoid distracting reflections. My goal was to feature detail on the two incongruously fanciful sculptures of trident wielding figures. This detail reveals lower bodies made of fish tails, sitting upon the heads of sea serpents. An anchor symbolically adorns the center of the image. The base of the bowl is made up of two ship hulls crossed at right angles. Amazingly, even with my lens wide open at f/1.7 to shoot in very low light, I was able to get most of that base in focus to show off the detail.

Seligman stands along historic Route 66 in Northern Arizona, bypassed by Interstate traffic and left to earn a place in the hearts of tourists in search of nostalgia. The most notable institution in Selgiman is Delgadillo’s Sno Cap Drive-in – which has been serving Route 66 travelers since 1953. Founder Juan Delgadillo delighted in incongruity, and filled his tiny shop with a blizzard of humorous signs and props. Although he died in 2004, his children continue the tradition. Anyone who visits the Sno Cap must enjoy the sea of odd details that greet them, and a joke or two comes along with every serving. This close-up wideangle image puts the viewer into the shoes of a Sno Cap customer, at least for the moment.

A picture of a camel is a picture of camel, unless we can make more of it. In this case, I noticed a camel showing its teeth, and so were the fellows standing just behind it. I zoomed in on the beast to stress the detail of the grin (or is it a grimace?) as well as the detail in the expressions of the drivers in the background.

The glory of Khajuraho’s temples, built 1,000 years ago by the Chandela dynasty that controlled central India at that time, can be seen their details. There are nearly 1,000 sculptures on the façade of this temple alone, and this image defines their beauty and intricacies.