The off season...

Lurking in the undergrowth - Nikon D3000

As a student I rarely get the time to go out and about with my camera as a degree is a full time job and public transport rarely goes anywhere extraordinary and so when I was presented with a few weeks at home over the Christmas holidays I was excited to get back out with my camera and explore the world outside. Winter is a time of year when many of us indeed would prefer to be wrapped up inside with our fires blazing, blankets draped and a hot cup of chocolate in your hands however not me. I will not lie, indeed I love lounging around and enjoying relaxation at home however so rare is the chance to get out with a camera these days that I could not wait. Many people ask me what there is to photograph in this cold, dark and bleak season but my answer is quite simply, "just as much as any other time of year, it depends what you want to photograph." Personally I love the 'grey' seasons as they bring with them a new kind of wonder which is hidden in a world below your feet, a magical world of fairy houses and obscure creations which are not native to planet Earth surely - fungi. 

Nikon D3000

Although I openly admit that my knowledge of the fungal varieties is less than proficient I cannot say that I enjoy photographing them any less than I do insects, in fact the non mobile subject is quite a blessing and it allows for some fantastic shots of depth and detail. Indeed the intricacy and irregularity of mushrooms and toadstools is one of the things that I find most alluring and attractive about them as macro photography is without a doubt my favourite kind of photography as it allows you a closeness to the topic that you cannot always see or appreciate with the naked eye. Again I implore that when you do go out and about look where you tread, watch the trees, look under the leaves, because these beautiful natural creations lurk so silently and so peacefully that you might otherwise never even notice their existence.

They come in all sizes - Nikon D3000

Fungi to me speak of fairy tales. Fact. If you are wondering what I am talking about then go to a book shop and read an Enid Blyton story or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland before you see the inclusion of mushroom within imaginative children's literature, either as houses or as sources of magic. Although I am certainly not inferring that you go out searching for one of them to eat you may go out searching for them and think of magic and wonder and what exactly you could do with them as artistic materials. Personally I like to capture their abstract forms in as much clarity as the camera will allow because I think aesthetically they are stunning and so visually pleasing that nothing else needs doing to them however you can use your imagination and develop them into so much more than mundane features of the woodland undergrowth. 

And you can find them everywhere - Nikon 1 J2

Fungi are also exceptionally fun to go hunting for as you quite simply have to get hands on. Indeed there is nothing more entertaining than observing your father head down in some undergrowth 100 metres away with his camera nose to nose with a fungi and a pine tree spiking his head. Safe to say that this also happens to me although less frequently on account of my smaller size, the trees tend to miss my head! However fungi hunting is a truly magnificent experience and the results are phenomenally rewarding, you never quite know which species you will find, which shape it will be, it could even be a new species altogether given the nature of fungi! Likewise Fungi present a rare opportunity to move yourself from the world beneath your feet to the world above your head as they quite literally possess an inexplicable ability to cling and grow and thrive in any environment no matter how bizarre or unlikely. To find these natural delights you need to pause and consider what you are doing for a moment, look for locations off the beaten track, look for dark groves and damp mossy areas and you are probably in luck! 

Nikon 1 J2

Although earlier stating that these were probably easier to take a photograph of than the insects previously considered in this series that is not to say that they are any easier to photograph overall as arguably a good fungi is harder to find than a good insect as their immobility means that they are hidden until you discover them as opposed to them flying at your head. If they are flying at your head I recommend you take up a new hobby as clearly nature does not like you. That or your dog is scratching at the floor like dogs do, in which case you have no hope of photographing anything. Overall fungi are a rare exception to the world of nature, there is nothing at all conventional about them yet they inspire so much, so go and buy an index of them (as you can tell I didn't) find out where to spot them and go and return to your childhood in the dirt and undergrowth of the forest! Alternatively just take the camera, or your eyes, and go and have a look, because the world is our there waiting, it will not come to you, so you must go to it!