Birthday Fungi (For Helle) by Chipka

Photography • Macro • posted on Dec 26, 2011

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Description

I’d taken this shot a while ago—it was still warm outside; summer (though wet) was not yet over, and as a result of that, the environment was perfect for mushrooms and other assorted fungi. I nabbed this shot, and countless shots of…um…miniature hats. These aren’t the hats; those have already appeared in my gallery. I can’t be sure of the exact breed of semi-shroom these are, but I think they’re jelly fungus of some sort. They have the appearance of some sort of fragile, aquatic life form. I nabbed this shot because I loved the very subtle colors of the fungi in question. Baby fungi. They’re so cute. In honor of Helle’s birthday, I decided to post an image of shrooms…well…not the traditional shrooms, as these little ones are shaped more like little cups and bowls, earrings, and even a ruffled potato-chip or two. As Helle has posted so many wonderful shrooms from her part of the planet, I think it’s only fitting to present shrooms from Chicago. We don’t get such impressive fungi here. We get the other kinds, mostly: the useless, unfriendly fungi, like mildew and smut, and so when a friendlier fungus shows up, it’s a cause for celebration…though admittedly, mildew photographs interestingly if it’s on the correct surface. (Don’t ask how I know that!) I much prefer these little beauties to mildew. They were a challenge to capture, as I didn’t want to disturb them in any way in order to get the right shot. The largest bits of fungal growth in this image are quite small…and the smallest bits (with the interesting colors) were practically invisible. Needless to say, the challenge of getting this photograph increased the glee I felt in seeing that I’d actually captured it. As this is one of my favorite fungus shots from last summer, I feel that it’s only fitting to dedicate it to Helle. If you haven’t seen her shrooms, you’re missing out. I’d planned on posting this a bit later, but as it’s Helle’s birthday, I think it’s time for this shot to see the light of digital day. Happy Birthday, Helle! And I hope that the upcoming year brings many more chances to capture interesting (and gorgeous) shrooms...and other nice things, too.

Comments (17)

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Faemike55

5:23PM | Mon, 26 December 2011

Wonderful capture and great gift to Helle for her birthday interesting narrative as well

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flavia49

6:31PM | Mon, 26 December 2011

excellent capture

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KatesFriend

6:43PM | Mon, 26 December 2011

Nice macro and a lovely tribute to your friend. I shall have to op over to her gallery. I've said this before, mushrooms and other kinds of fungi seem so otherworldly to my eyes. Perhaps it is that whole 'Matango' thing scaring me at a young age. Maybe its that other side of the life cycle to which they seem so adapted. Perhaps it is their aptitude for instilling 'Altered States' to tose exposed to them. Perhaps it is their ability to be invisible until one are within striking dist- er ya, we're back to 'Matango' again. Or maybe that was from the X-Files. Tasty on a pizza though.

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MrsRatbag

7:00PM | Mon, 26 December 2011

What a wonderful capture of these little organisms! They are cute indeed, and not the kind that we get growing on wet logs here (ours are more of the umbrella and hat sort). There are some jellyish ones, but they are much rarer and more precious therefore.

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anaber

8:18PM | Mon, 26 December 2011

Gorgeous contrasts in your image,Chip! Dark colours and soft tones as well the strong trunk where the gentle fungi chose to live on. They seem going to somewhere...lol:))) It is a fabulous capture and a wonderful dedi for Dear Helle:) Happy Birthday Helle:)!

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bmac62

12:12AM | Tue, 27 December 2011

Marvelous...a zoom brings them to life...a myriad of shapes and sizes. Nicely done Chip. And Happy Birthday to you Helle once again:)

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auntietk

12:39AM | Tue, 27 December 2011

Light, diagonals, and adorable fungi. What more could anybody want? This is wonderful. My eye follows that line over and over again. Happy Birthday to Helle!

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wysiwig

2:12AM | Tue, 27 December 2011

Southern California is geaographically a desert so we rarely get fungi. I find the concept of 'birthday fungi' very intriging. This is really fine work. The composition, light and textures are wonderful. On zoom I can see they are little horn like structures. They look for all the world like open mouths. Perhaps they are singing 'Happy Birthday'. Well, happy birthday, Helle!

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helanker

2:59AM | Tue, 27 December 2011

Shrooms shaped like little cups and bowls couldnt be more perfect, as I love the shapes of cups and bowls and such and I love mushrooms.... or fungi. Thank you so much for that, Chip. :))) Sometimes I dont know what to call them. Maybe to call all kinds of shrooms for fungi and only call the edible fungi shrooms ;-) That would be hard too, as I dont know which are edible and which are toxic. I am afraid I never will learn what is what. I guess a fungus is the common word for all of this kind of plants. Thank you so much for this thoughtful dedication, Chip. It is MY kind of shots and it is simply Perfect. Thank you. A wonderful shot to wake up to. :-D

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