Today on Mushroom Hour we are fortunate to be joined be Alison Pollack. Alison is a photographer specializing in making large the diminutive dwellers of the forest - Myxomycetes (commonly referred to as slime molds) and tiny fungi. Her passion is finding, photographing, identifying and sharing these miniature worlds to bring awareness to the fascinating organisms that exist right at our feet in the forest but are largely hidden to the naked eye.  Alison has always had a casual interest in photography, but when she retired from the field of air quality consulting she upgraded to a DSLR and began shooting landscapes at home and while traveling - hiking with her husband throughout the world. It wasn’t until she found and photographed her first slime mold, however, that she got serious about mushroom and myxo photography. Alison’s photographs have been featured in numerous publications, including Colossal, Bored Panda, MyModernMet, the German National Geographic magazine GEO, Der Spiegel, and the Sunday New York Times Magazine. Known as “Marin Mushrooms” on Instagram, her widely shared posts have inspired people to slow down on their hikes to search for these tiny life forms that she loves.   

Topics Covered:  

• Alison’s Discovery of Slime Molds  
• Searching vs. Foraging  
• How to Find Myxomycetes and Ascomycetes  
• Cultivating Myxomycetes  
• Capturing the Miniature World of Myxos  
• Photography in the Wild and in a Studio  
• Evolution as a Photographer  
• Equipment for Ultra-Macro Photography  
• "Focus Stacking"  
• Microscopic Captures  
• Myxobacteria  
• Power of Fungi Community  
• Breaking Through Internationally  
• Future Events and Exhibitions  

Episode Resources:  

• Alison Pollack (IG): https://www.instagram.com/marin_mushrooms/  
• Alison Pollack (FB): https://www.facebook.com/AlisonKPollack  
• FB Slime Mold Identification and Appreciation: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SlimeMold/   
• Sarah Lloyd: https://www.instagram.com/sarah.lloyd.tasmania/   
• Leah Mycelia: https://www.instagram.com/leah_mycelia/  
• Raynox Add-On Lens for Macro Photography: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/275182-REG/Raynox_DCR_250_DCR_250_2_5x_Super_Macro.html  
• Focus Stacking Software: https://zerenesystems.com/cms/stacker  
• Myxomycetes - A Handbook of Slime Molds (Book): https://www.amazon.com/Myxomycetes-Handbook-Steven-L-Stephenson/dp/0881924393/  
• Fungi of Temperate Europe  (Book): https://www.amazon.com/Fungi-Temperate-Europe-Thomas-Laessoe/dp/0691180377