Enjoying a sandwich while hanging precariously from the branches of one of the world's tallest trees wouldn't be most people's idea of the perfect picnic.
But for these daredevil ecologists grabbing some lunch at the top of a 350ft Redwood or Sequoia is just a normal day at the office.
For climbing great heights is a challenge botanist Steve Sillett, 45, and his wife Marie Antoine face almost every day as they study some of the oldest and definitely tallest forests on earth.
Don't look down: Ecologists Steve Steve Sillett and his wife, Marie Antoine, enjoy a bite to eat while hanging from the branches of a giant Redwood Tree in California's Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park
Bed time: The couple sleep among the canopies of these ancient trees, which are often 30 storeys high, and eating and camping in the branches is a necessity
Magnificent: A researcher is dwarfed by a Redwood tree at Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California (left) and a biologist studies a large fern mat from a giant Redwood tree in the California park
The couple are tasked with measuring nature's giants and because the trees are often over 30 storeys high, eating and sleeping in the canopies is more a necessity than a choice.The incredible pictures were taken at Prairie Creek, Redwood National Park, California by photographer Michael 'Nick' Nichols.
Steve and Marie worked with Nick and a team of experts to help him create a seamless photo of a Redwood tree from top to bottom, something which due to the sheer size of the tree, had never been done before.
Nick spent two years on the project, living in California for a year while he explored the large Redwood forests with Steve, Marie and a team of scientists in a bid to capture the tricky shot.
He said: 'All over the world California is known for these giant trees the Redwood and Sequoia. The Redwood is used for timber and around 95 per cent of these great trees have been cut down.
Awesome: Botanists show the scale of these giant trees as they take a sample of a 350-foot giant redwood tree at Redwood National Park
Living the high life: Scientists in Prairie Creek State Park dangle hundreds of feet above ground as they measure a fire cave in a redwood damaged by wildlife
'My colleague decided he'd walk the length of the forest to decide what the scientific condition of these trees was. I was brought in to document it.'These trees [are so large] you can't see all of them, when you stand on the ground in front of them you just see a little bit of the bottom.'
The photographer said he wanted the project to be a 'celebration of these great trees'.
He said: 'I knew I had the task of creating the star photo, I had to make a photo that led and drew everyone in.
'I had to find the tree, I had to get permission from the parks to do all this rope work in the trees and I had to get the scientists to agree to help me.
Nick chose the tree he wanted to photograph but scientist Steve Sillett said he could not climb it because it had been 'retired'.
Ancient: The forests of Sequoias and Redwoods, such as this one at Redwood National Park, are the tallest in the world and among the oldest
Great feat: Michael Nichols took this image (left) of a 310ft tall tree, which has the most complex crown ever mapped and a biologist prepares the rigging for an image of a large fern mat (right)
The photographer said: 'They had studied this tree for more than 20 years. It is the most complex tree known on earth. 'For all of these people who love and study them, this is their favourite tree because it's so majestic in its shape.
'It's not the tallest, not the biggest, it's the second largest, but it just has character.
'I knew what had to be done to make the tree have its shape, that's also why there's figures in the photograph.
'They are people who love the tree and study it but they're also there for scale.
'We wanted to give a sense of what a human looks like in comparison to the tree, we wanted to create a sense of awe and the sense of scale does that.'
Photographer: Michael Nichols said he wanted his project on Sequoia and Redwoods to be a 'celebration of these great trees'
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