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:
Episode Resources:
Ep. 176: Biochar, Soil Remedation & the Community Agriculture Project (feat. Emily Davis)
Ep. 175: Farwest Fungi & The Santa Cruz Mountain Mushroom Festival (feat. Kyle Garrone)
Ep. 174: All Things Fungi Festival - Myco-Culture, Slime Molds, Biofluorescence (feat. Jana Nicole & Max Mudie)
Ep. 173: Forage. Gather. Feast. - Truffles, Seasonal Harvests & Uncertain Futures (feat. Maria Finn)
Ep. 172: The Very Merry Mushrooms - Mycology for All Ages, Learning through Play (feat. Tess Lassman)
Ep. 171: A Magical Dutchman's Journey - Building Community at Fungi Academy (feat. Jasper Degenaars)
Ep. 170: Oklahoma Fungi - Building Future Generations of Mycologists (feat. Jacob Devecchio)
Ep. 169: Mycological Analytics, Community Science, Entheogenic Genomes (Ian Bollinger)
Ep. 168: The Myco Zine - Psychedelic Chemistry, Mushroom Cultivation, Mycelial Connections (Tomás Garret)
Ep. 167: Behind the Scenes & Across the Universe with William Padilla-Brown
Ep. 166: Mycosymbiote - Regenerating Ecologies, Expanding Consciousness, Being Human (William Padilla-Brown)
Ep. 165: Hongos in Patagonia - Pedomorphosis & Rethinking Evolution (feat. Dr. Francisco Kuhar)
Ep. 164: Which Fungi - The Edibles, The Deadlies, The Wild Ones (feat. Elise Rothman)
Ep. 163: Fruits of the Forest - Pacific Northwest Edible Mushrooms (feat. Daniel Winkler)
Ep. 162: The Flowering Wand - Rewilding the Sacred Masculine (feat. Sophie Strand)
Ep. 161: Minnesota's Mushroom Valley - Mushroom Caves & the Unexplored Underworld (feat. Dr. Greg Brick)
Ep. 160: Osmose Studio - Biomaterials Reimagined, Mycelium Futures & Regenerative Design (feat. Ashley Granter & Aurelie Fontan)
Ep. 159: Mycorrhizal Ecology, Soil Biodiversity & Political Instability in South America (feat. Dr. César Marin)
Ep. 158: The Hidden Kingdom of Fungi - Exploring the Microscopic World in Our Forests, Homes & Bodies (feat. Dr. Keith Seifert)
Ep. 157: Psychedelic Adventures into Microscopic Mushroom Worlds (feat. Irene Antonez)
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