Category Archives: Macro

January 16, 2023 It’s Lunch Time!

Death Cap (Amanita phalloides)

I am now officially certified as a PMP (Professional Mushroom Photographer).

Don’t mind me. I’m just sitting on a log eating my cold sandwich while watching this banana slug devour a mushroom. 

Mmmm… yummy Russula 😋 

October 30, 2021 Rituals

Slime Mold (Stemonitis axifera)

Space Balls (Lycogala epidendrum)

The mushroom season has officially started! With over 2 inches of needed rain last week in the Bay Area, I started the hunt at the same location as last year; the coast redwoods in Santa Cruz county. 

I was ecstatic when I spotted slime mold just a few feet from my car on a decaying log after parking; the same luck as last winter. Usually when there are mushrooms or fungi in the parking lot, you know you’ll spend the entire day there. But despite initial luck and hiking a mile, it didn’t seem like there were anything larger than a quarter inch, perhaps it was still early in the winter season. Wolf’s Slime Milk (Lycogala epidendrum) was abundant, so much so I couldn’t stop myself from having fun popping some of them. Nevertheless, I could not be more thrilled photographing some creepy looking fungi for Halloween weekend. Hopefully La Niña produces a good rainy season this year because there are still a plethora of mushrooms I still have on my list to find!

March 7, 2021 There it is!

Parrot Waxcap (Gliophorus psittacinus)

With what may be the last rain for the winter, I thought I wouldn’t be able to find the parrot waxcap this season. When I first started taking photos of mushrooms this year, I was immediately jealous of this shot by WildMacro. He mentioned it took 3 years to find it. It’s elusive nature definitely did not get my hopes up of finding it especially for an amateur like me. Despite persistent searching up and down the coast the past two months, I didn’t find it, until today. 

Like I tell myself every weekend, I had a choice, stay comfortably at home, or go somewhere. Again, the uncertainty was killing me. Were there going to be mushrooms 24 hours after a decent rain? Did it rain enough? Oh great, a frost advisory. That’s not good. How far should I drive? Being an optimizer, I always have a hard time committing to a location; the paradox of choice. I narrowed my choices down to two, shut down the computer and used my intuition. 

The ground was definitely wet with damp moss redwood duff. It felt very “mushroomy”, just like how a beach would feel “fishy”. I found a few wax caps early on, one had almost a greenish cap. Could this be a parrot? How am I supposed to find a green mushroom in a forest of green? It was a needle in a haystack, only the needle is the same color as the hay. The others around were more yellow and brown, keep looking. A feeling of excitement came to me as that was the closest I’ve been to finding the mushroom. Two hours in, I didn’t find much other than some nice golden waxcaps and purple Mycena that was past its prime. As I approached a bridge to the waterfall connector trail, I spotted in the corner of my eye, a round, slimy, green colored mushroom. There it is! With mushrooms, you find one and suddenly you discover a whole cluster. I lost track of time as I spent the next hour cleaning and photographing the parrots, at times I simply just stared at it. It was really that green, nothing like I’ve seen before. 

With fishing, you never know if one more cast will be the one. With mushrooming, you never know if 10 more steps will uncover something. That’s what keeps me excited, the unknown, the suspense, the chance you may discover something totally unexpectedly. 

Lilac Bonnet (Mycena pura)

Alpine Jelly Cone (Guepiniopsis alpina)

Boulder Fall. March 2021