Thoreau, I believe, said “God made ferns to show what He could do with a leaf.” Perhaps, then, he made mushrooms to show the whimsy and art of decay.
I do know I spent a lot of time close to the earth yesterday. And you can take that both ways. Mushroom photography, more even than wildflower portraiture, carries you into the shadows of deep woods, down on your knees, not infrequently on your belly as if the photographer could submerge below the leaf litter where most of the subject fungus lives invisible, the admirer looking up from below at the small, odd, decorative part of this thready saprophyte that appears briefly above ground.
So if an apple a day keeps the doctor away, what will a fungus a day do for you? Come back over the next two weeks and see. (And also see if I can do a better job of daily blog posts than the past two hectic months have allowed.) Whatever happened to the Slow Road of the Silver Years of Leisure and Repose?
Beautiful photo. I like how you can see the veins (that’s what I call them), because of the backlighting. wonderful work…….thanks to you, for getting on your knees, and belly, to bring us sights that most people don’t see, or take time to look at.
take care………watch for snakes while so close to the ground……….
Mark
That’s too pretty to eat!