Dan Polhemus was originally trained as an entomologist, but subsequently developed an interest in other small things, including micromollusks and microminerals. He grew up in Colorado, and had the chance to scrounge minerals on the dumps at towns such as Telluride, Creede and Leadville during a time when their mines were still active. From Colorado he went to graduate school in Utah, then to Washington, DC where he worked for the Smithsonian Institution, before finally ending up in Kailua, Hawaii, where he currently resides. His wife Robin also enjoys mineral collecting, and his son Hunter is a geology and geophysics major at the University of Hawaii (by contrast his daughter, Kara, does not find rocks and minerals particularly interesting). Although his wife prefers larger specimens, Dan has become progressively more fascinated with microminerals, and the challenges of photographing them. The family takes a long vacation every summer to the American West, where they continue to poke around old mine dumps in search of hidden treasures both large and small.

For those who have questions or comments in regard to his photos, or wish to obtain permission to use them for non-commercial educational purposes, Dan can be contacted at: bugman@bishopmuseum.org