I saw these two out on a hike in the mountains. The aminita muscaria always has fascinated me … they have an almost magnetic visual appeal. Back in the late ’70’s I knew a guy that claimed he ate them. Said they made him awfully sick, but that the visions were worth it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he died young.
Once in a while I will go out shooting and forget to download the images to my computer when I get home. And sometimes I will then start using a different camera for a while … variety being the spice, they say.
Both of these images were ones that I had in the camera for longer than I would admit. But a pleasant surprise when I finally saw them. I wish I had taken the mushroom in a focus stack so the depth of field was greater … but I still like the image.
I found this clump of mushrooms on top of Mt Walker recently. I had driven up to see what the view was like (too much haze) … and was heading back to the truck when I noticed these little guys. The only lenses I had with me were zoom and neither one able to focus close up. Fortunately, I did have my tripod. So I set up with the lens that let me get closest and took a series of 60+ images while moving the focus point out. Once I got home, I combined them in HeliconFocus and then did some minor edits (including cropping).
These are described as poisonous. I heard stories about native shaman using the psychedelic properties to initiate spiritual trances by feeding them to reindeer. I had a friend back in the 70s that ate them and said the experience was quite intense once you got over the retching and vomiting. I will pass on that. Maybe a nice glass of wine.
I have been unable to identify these mushrooms, but they reminded me of the dancing mushrooms from the 1940 Disney film, Fantasia.