Hiding in Plain Sight: Fungi on the Forest Floor
A couple of years ago, I was walking down my driveway through a copse of alder and fir, dotted occasionally with dead logs broken and rotting where they fell. At one point, I spotted a chunk of alder log with some unusual growth sprouting from it. Closer inspection revealed some compelling patterns and subtle colours that just begged to be photographed. So I did that, filed the images away and promptly forgot about them in the crush of other commitments.
Fast forward six years, and casting about for my next project, I stumbled across that file. So I began to actually seek out these growths – fungi, actually – and photograph them wherever I found them. Eventually I expanded my vision to include all things mushroomy. Never content, however, with the original images, my imagination ran rampant with possibilities provided by these fabulous and exotic elements. The results are on display in Photosynthesis 2019, a small sample of the total output, with lots more on the way for a show next year. Stay tuned.
