Almost frozen fungus

An unusual mushroom appeared in the neighborhood and, perhaps thanks to cold weather, managed to retain its bizarre features for a few days. Thursday I had a chance to explore it with a camera while the light was good. I came up with three interpretations.

The fragment of an oak leaf in the photo above will give you an idea of scale. The closer views below encompass a width of ~35-40cm (about an inch and a half). A Canon 100mm macro lens let me move into life-size range without extra attachments.

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Fungal Fun Park

Some rain the day before we left on a whirlwind trip to the mountains (Boone, NC) resulted in the sudden sprouting that evening of a cluster of mushrooms. It looked like a mushroom amusement park. I knew it wouldn't last, so I set up a light at midnight and lay down on the damp ground to try a few photos. Here are some of the results. I love the way sharply angled light brings out form and texture. Maybe not quite close enough to back lighting to be called contre-jour, but whatever it should be called, lighting from a bit behind the side is fun!

The heads of the fungi were thumbnail-sized (well, the thumb of a rather large hand).

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