I decided to try my hand at photography...

Sunday while my family was visiting at “Grandma’s house” (my parents’ home) I decided to try my hand at photography. I had seen some shaggy inkcap mushrooms (also called “lawyer’s wig” or “shaggymane”) on the way in, so I borrowed my younger brother’s camera and started snapping. It’s a good thing I got them when I did, because my dad ran them over with his truck an hour later! A while later (while the kids were napping) my wife and I went for a walk, hunting for more good pictures. I took about 130 pictures (fungus was the main focus), and I’ve posted 21 of my favorites here. Let me know what you think about them (C&C and thread ratings welcome), and make sure you tell me which is your favorite. Enjoy!

-blendenzo

(These are low-res, low-quality jpegs. If you’d like a higher quality version of one, email me at blendenzo (at) sbcglobal (dot) net. No photo enhancement or cropping was done unless noted. I retain copyright of these images. If you would like them for anything other than personal use, please contact me first.)

“Shaggy Inkcap” (actually, “Lawyer’s Wig” probably suits this one better)
http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/8347/shaggyinkcap2sz7.jpg

“Shaggy Inkcap” (I snuck the camera underneath for this one)
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/7836/shaggyinkcap1ep6.jpg

“Rotting Away”
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/1498/rottinglog1bhl5.jpg

“Mushroom Trunk”
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/5553/mushroomtrunk1wl5.jpg

“Fungus on Rotting Wood”
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/7691/funguswoodrot1lv0.jpg

“Spotted Shelf”
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/4748/spottedshelfhn6.jpg

“Ghostly Growth”
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/2729/ghostlymushroomsaa1.jpg

“Orange Protrusion”
http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/6494/orangegrowthbu7.jpg

The “Frog On a Barrel” Series
(I was photographing the reflection on the water when my wife said “Oh, are you taking pictures of that frog?” “What frog?” I asked obliviously…)
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/4618/frogonbarrel1yy5.jpg

As long as he was posing…
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/4844/frogonbarrel2ep0.jpg

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/3848/frogonbarrel3ie9.jpg

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/5916/frogonbarrel4lf1.jpg

…I thought I’d get closer.
http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/4569/frogonbarrel5ix1.jpg

(This is 1x zoom. The camera was actually that close!)
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/4984/frogonbarrel7ha2.jpg

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/3383/plantsandbarrelwv6.jpg

“The Hanging Bath”
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/8172/hangingbirdbath1cl3.jpg

“Rustic Birdhouse” (I cropped out a bit of unsightly background)
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/3683/rusticbirdhousewc0.jpg

“Spiny Puff Mushrooms”
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/3420/spinypuffmushrooms1hv1.jpg

The “Spiny Flattop” Series
http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/8270/spinyflattopmushrooms1le3.jpg

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/686/spinyflattopmushrooms2xw6.jpg

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/6355/spinyflattopmushrooms3hi6.jpg

They’re really quite nice. I like all of them, but I think the view underneath the Shaggy Inkcap was the best.

I love mushrooms, they’re very tasty and some of em make things look funny = )

Nice work!

If I were you I would’ve sampled them all indiscriminately to see if any were “magical”

Great work

Thanks for the compliments!

My mother and I did eat a shaggy inkcap. It was quite good, though not magical. Make sure you know it’s an inkcap if you try one, though, and eat it while it’s still white, before the underside starts to turn black.

That’s my favorite, too (it was also the most fun to take). I’ve actually got it set as my wallpaper. Aside from that, I really like the first “Spiny Flattop” picture and “Ghostly Growth”.