When I first moved to Tasmania for my sabatical, I was unaware of the splashes of colour spreading through the forests in Autumn. It wasn't until I was getting the chooks some hay one day that I discovered the most beautiful delicate mushrooms
I've ever seen in my life. I then took a quick scan and surrounding me all over the property, was mushrooms and fungi.
For 2-3 weeks I was possessed!
And I mean possessed, having grown up in hot dry WA I'd never seen anything like it. Mushrooms in the rain forrest's was something I'd only read about in Fairy Tales.
After a bit of online researching the different varieties found in Tasmania I became a woman on a massive mission hunting down all the gorgeous types I could find! It was a double bonus as I finally used my 100mm macro lens which I bought in 2008. I'd never had an opportunity to use the lens until then!
I scouted the property I was living on, I then headed out to my friends other property in Montana as well as my friends Salmon Farm in Montana. I shot a myriad of mushrooms but there was one I was dead keen in capturing before the season ended.....
I simply couldn't find them anywhere and when I did find them they had died. I was at a lunch one day and an older gentleman told me there was tonnes od them behind the Deloraine Community Centre, so I raced down the very next day, however they had all died. Disappointed I walked around the Meander River in Deloraine and low and behold I stumbled across the most perfect couple of Amanita Muscaria fungi!
I think I did a pretty good job !!
This year in Tasmania has been far drier and hotter than last year so the fungi is not as prevalent and I have been so busy I forgot about the season until I saw these fellas on Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm whilst out shooting.
So the very next day I headed out to the Deloraine Community Centre in the hope I had caught the mushrooms in time, sadly I didn't, they were all dried out and discoloured. There were a couple good ones which I captured on my phones and uploaded to Instagram and FlickR
I also discovered some phenomenal fungi on another friends property last week. This was one of the most amazing ones I'd ever seen so I shot it yesterday when it was overcast. (I love shooting on cloudy days as the clouds act as one big diffuser!)
But I still felt like I should head out for a hike and find some. So a friend and I headed to Meander River in Deloraine. We found quite a few although it did seem like the season was ending! I also went back to the same place I discovered there were tonens of them as the area had been cleared, but sadly they were starting to discolour, they still looked great though and there was plenty more still spawning!
We also discovered a tree stump with some awesome dying fungi. As we got closer we discovered some super cool lady bugs crawling all over them!
They kept us entertained for hours!!
Trying to find great fungi to shoot in Tasmania really rejuvenated me as a photographer. Mainly because I was doing it for me and not hired to shoot for someone else. It was fun and adventurous discovering and capturing these interesting, spawning life forms!!!
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