Thank you, everybody, for the comments! I had totally forgotten about this image until I came across it quite by chance when searching for something in my Challenges gallery. Thought it would be fun to shock everybody with a non-architecture picture ;-).

Very cool image - well put together .

The picy does work well a, it looks really good.

Beautifully and artfully executed with excellent title - like a line from Eegar Allen Poe. This image would make a good illustration for "Descent into a Maelstrom" or even "Narrative of A Gordon Pymm". Actually, "abyss" appears throughout Poe's writings and critics ascribe a cosmological meaning to Poe's use of the word - not just for horrific effect. (I had to write a paper in college about it.)

Martin, I think my "closeup days" were before your time in the Sony challenges ;-). I would refer you to my Challenges Gallery [link], which I started in 2001. Some of my favorites (and attempts at various things with mixed results!) are: [link]; [link]; [link]; [link]; [link]; [link]; [link]; and [link] -- it was pretty hard to get this to work out correctly, hope it's not too confusing ;-).

I remember you had a few closeup photos, Helen, but I never thought you did a lot of it as I've seen mostly architectural images. This one's a great abstract, and blues always catch my eye... it took me a few looks to figure out what I was being shown, then I read your explanation below and realized I figured completely wrong :)

Hey Helen, I thought bubbles are Jerry's trademark! :-) These are excellent and create your own style.

Thanks again, all, for the comments! The theme of the challenge this was taken for was "bubbles," which I thought was totally impossible for me until I happened to remember a fine vase I have, with air bubbles floating upwards towards the bottom of it. So I turned it upside down, used an LED light and shot (with a tripod, this time ;-)). I liked the result as it seemed sort of outer-spacey or underwater-y, whatever, it was bubbles. So Carole, your guess at a glass paperweight wasn't too far off the mark as the vase was created from that very thick, heavy type of glass.

i think of something and then i look down and caroles comments echo my thoughts. uncanny.

I can't quite figure this out but it sure is a lovely image - reminds me of a glass paperweight! :-)

Lots of image in those bubbles

I have no idea what this is, but I do know it's a beautiful shot. Great work Helen.

Very pretty and surreal shot.