8m tall fungus

There was a giant fungus living 420 million years ago, named Prototaxites, and it was one of the earliest settlers on land.

Birch bolete in town

Forest mushrooms in town, always a lovely sight

A post shared by Fungidelight (@fungidelight) on Oct 18, 2017 at 11:03am PDT

Snakeskin grizette

Snakeskin grisette - a close relative of the feared death cap, but not as poisonous, according to some references. Still, better left alone!

A post shared by Fungidelight (@fungidelight) on Oct 26, 2017 at 10:52am PDT

Instagram!

Fungidelight is now on Instagram, and it looks like it will be the main platform for sharing mushroom adventures from now on. There is not much time for text in my life now, sadly, however I always have my mobile phone with me, and posting those finds is only a matter of a couple of taps.

https://www.instagram.com/fungidelight/

I will be posting mushroom-related images here, but the Instagram account is not just about mushrooms, but mainly the beauty of nature.

Enjoy!

Town walk

A post shared by Fungidelight (@fungidelight) on Oct 15, 2017 at 2:09am PDT

Tips for better mushroom photography

There is a fairly large backlog of photos and stories I have been meaning to share here, but life keeps getting in the way. But I haven't completely given up on this blog yet, and will be returning to it soon.

Meanwhile, here is a very short video I've come across on the web about better mushroom photography.

Basically, it is all about lighting, and this is certainly the biggest issue I have come across when attempting to take mushroom photos. Fungi like hiding in dark places, and with my current extremely basic setup I'm lucky if one in ten images is good enough to be shared. And ass for them having any artistic value, I've long given up on that.

I'd love to follow the tips in the clip, and I agree that they would greatly improve image quality. However, the problem for me is that the sheer amount of equipment you need to carry with you is off-putting. You can either carry the photography gear, or mushroom-collecting gear, but not both. So within mushroom-collecting season, this is only viable to me with a willing assistant. But in times when expectations to find something edible are low, and therefore I'm not burdened with baskets, containers, knives, guides, repellents, etc. etc. - it's certainly worth a try.