RockEyeCandy

High-resolution photographs of minerals on disk, calendars, and posters




I have ended my relationship with Lulu (see this link for an explanation) so for the moment, it is not possible to order calendars and posters. I have left the links in the left frame intact so you can see the type of product I will, hopefully, be offering again soon.

WHAT'S NEW

October 9, 2009 A 'Hold' on Calendars
I am no longer offering my imagery through Lulu. I am seeking to find a local printer for my calendars and posters.

September 23, 2009 A 'Hold' on Calendars
My recently-shipped copies of the 2010 calendars all had a print flaw (not a design flaw, I assure you.) Until I get this problem satisfactorily resolved, I have disabled general release of the calendars. You can still see their content on the calendar page.

September 21, 2009 Astrophotography
Want to see my first attempts at astrophotography? Follow this link.

September 19, 2009 Updates to Calendars
After several months of neglect, I have updated the calendars with 5 new versions for 2010! Three come with US holidays, and two with Canadian holidays.

May 19, 2009 Discontinued Posters
Lulu has discontinued their poster line. I am seeking a new way to have these printed.

May 4, 2009 Updates to Calendars
An 18 month (July 2009-December 2010) calendar featuring miscellaneous minerals has been added.

May 1, 2009 Updates to Calendars
Three 12 month premium calendars have been updated to begin in July, 2009. Lulu has dropped the price of their calendars (say WHAT?), which is great, but they have removed the easy insertion of default Canadian holidays, which must now be done manually. When I get past that, the quartz calendar (premium) and the azurite (regular) will be updated and a new 18 month calendar made available. Remember, if you like a calendar but need specific national holidays, email me and I'll try to provide that.

April 26, 2009 New Version of Image Disk #1
The 'best of' image disk #1 has been upgraded to 30 specimens, including new photos to improve older sets, and also many stereo images.

April 20, 2009 New Versions of Image Disks
I am now making image disks available by mineral type and country/region. I have also nearly completed an upgrade of the image sets on the 'best of' image CDs. The website is still under construction so if there's any confusion, please email me!

January 20, 2009 Addition of Azurite Calendar
A regular quality azurite calendar has been added to my Lulu store, which begins on March 1, 2009, running to February 28, 2010.

January 18, 2009 Change to 12 Month Wulfenite Calendar
The premium quality 12 month wulfenite calendar has been revised to start on March 1, 2009. It has also been changed to show US holidays and Christian events. Note that, as for other 2009 revised calandars, I have not yet changed the cover to reflect this change in start/end months.

January 13, 2009 Change to 12 Month World Calendar
The premium quality 12 month world minerals calendar has been revised to start on March 1, 2009. It has also been changed to show only US holidays. There are now 2 calendars beginning in March (the other is the Quartz calendar).

January 6, 2009 Changes and Additions to Calendars
A new 12 month calendar featuring different forms of quartz has been added, which begins on March 1, 2009. I will be moving all calendars now starting on January 1 to later dates, as soon as I can find the time. I will also soon be releasing less expensive Lulu calendars of 'regular' quality; at present, all of my calendars are 'premium' quality.

January 1, 2009 Rollover of Pic of the Week
It's a new year, so I'm starting a new Picture of the Week archive. Some of this year's pictures will be repeats, but there are many new ones coming and they just keep getting better.

December 27, 2008 Azurite poster added
A new poster of azurite specimens has been added to my Lulu store: see the poster page of this site.

December 5, 2008 Photos in new book on Chinese minerals
A terrific new book on minerals from China by Bertold Ottens is now available, with numerous contributions from rockeyecandy: (link here). It is only available in German (an English translation may or may not be made) but even if you don't know any German, it is an excellent reference and a very high-quality printing.

October 31, 2008 Photos in extraLapis
The latest publication by extraLapis is a beautiful and informative 104-page issue on garnet (link here). It contains 4 of my photos, which by coincidence are also on my garnet poster!

October 21, 2008 Changes to Calendars
A 12 month calendar featuring orpiment and realgar has been added.

October 19, 2008 Changes to Calendars
I have removed the 16 month Canadian minerals calendar, as we are now well past its starting date. I have added an 18 month miscellaneous minerals calendar, starting on January 1, 2009.



If you love minerals, then like me, you probably enjoy having large, high-quality photographs of them hanging on the wall, as calendars or posters. But have you tried looking for them at your local bookstore? Kittens, mountains......no problem. But minerals? There's almost nothing out there. If you like digital photos for computer desktops or screensavers, there are thousands of pictures of great mineral specimens on the web. But these are usually less than 800 pixels wide - not nearly enough to fill a monitor, and usually they're the wrong shape.

At this website, you'll get access to thousands of high-quality, high-resolution photographs of excellent mineral specimens; many of the specimens are worthy of a fine museum collection. I'm a professional geologist with 30 years of experience of photographing rocks in the field and through microscopes, and almost as many years of experience at composing and editing digital images. Currently I only offer "eye-candy" photographs, but I also have a large collection of scientific photographs, especially of thin sections, and I will eventually release those also. In addition, as this website grows, I will be offering minerals and rare igneous rocks for sale.

You can access examples of the photographs from the links on the left (check out the Picture of the Week archive) as well as information on the products I offer and on my photographic techniques. Most of the specimens I photograph are from my own collection, but I also have access to a large collection maintained by a local mineral dealer, with fresh material available almost daily. So keep coming back!

NOTE: Most of my high-resolution example images are 2000 pixels high. Your browser may pack these images so they fit inside the window; you can download the files to see as much detail as possible or get your browser to expand them. Ditto for the Picture of the Week.