Aug 232014
Knowing today was going to be the steamiest day of the summer so far, I set out mid-morning on my daily Piney Woods Church Road adventures. Beside the horse pasture fence, just along the edge of the roadway, I encountered a number of tiny parasol-like mushrooms, Parasola plicatilis, the Japanese Parasol or Pleated Inky Cap. A common mushroom of urban and suburban lawns, it has a charming elegance that I found captivating. My favorite photograph of the session was this one, in which I was able to use a fairly small aperture (f/6.3) yet, by turning my camera just so, bring both the mushroom cap and two tiny dew drops on a nearby grass blade into focus.
