Fun With Fungi? Really? Part 1

Part 1: Getting Down With It

For the last five years, I have been particularly interested in finding and photographing mushrooms. I walk in the woods with my eyes darting back and forth from one side of the path to the other, looking for new subjects that I will then crawl around in the dirt to photograph.

At this point I have taken well over 5000 photographs of mushrooms. My intention is to use them in the large constructed photographic patterns that I make as one of many design elements. In the header of this blog alone I have used at least 10 different mushrooms to construct the image (a detail taken from a larger piece).

I do not take photographs of mushrooms – or most anything – with the intention of creating a stunning macro image to be framed and hung on a wall; rather, I think of them as snapshots–visual journal entries that create a lopsided time chart for me of the hours I spend in the deep woods while the seasons pass. Because they are not taken to be an end unto themselves, most of the photos rarely see the light of day. Instead they sit lodged away on external hard drives where they are catalogued into an ever growing library of raw materials to be used in the future.

Here’s the thing: Mushrooms do not respond well to the drought conditions of Wisconsin. As a result, my recent forays into the woods have turned up little evidence of their existence.

I decided that this was a perfect time to bring out a few photos taken during damper days and give them their special moment. There will also be a Part 2 to follow which will show a wide range of fungal diversity including slime moulds, coral, sac, bracket and gill fungi, puffballs, boletes, and more. I’m only a mycological “appreciator,” so I will not attempt to identify them more specifically for you.

Here are a few images to start with, in all of their exquisite variety.