Mushrooms

While waiting for another assignment today I found these inconspicuous little shrooms just around the corner of an outhouse.

In the last week or so there have been two excursions into the woods chasing mushrooms of all kinds, I needed to fill up my archive a bit with shots of fungi, and it has generated over a thousand images that need to be sorted and edited. Yep’ I’m keeping myself rather busy.

Not all mushrooms are suitable for food though. These may be inedible, but they sure are beautiful where they stand proudly in the moss.

Photography can be quite seasonal, ie what you shoot depends on the season. This time of year, the fall season it’s vey much the changing colors of the trees and bushes as well as mushrooms that come into focus.

Far from all mushrooms are edible, one genus you should stay clear of is Amanita as most of the 600 species in this genus are toxic. Some of them can be difficult to distinguish from edible ones like the Destroying Angel which look very much like the Meadow Mushroom. Others are easier to spot like the Fly Agaric which is beautiful but quite deadly.

Amanita species are responsible for approximately 95% of the fatalities resulting from mushroom poisoning.

Another tour into the woods yesterday and I’m “blessed” with another 600 images to sort through and edit for the stock photo agencies. This time of year is mushroom season, loads of shrooms of all kinds to pick and get in the freezer so there’ll be goodies all winter to enjoy. One such treat is the Lawyers Wig, while they’re still white and no “ink” has formed they are very much edible. These two though are only usable for photographing.