The Forest Floor, Alive, Sandy Oregon

I have lived in and explored the woods surrounding my Sandy, Oregon home extensively over the past 10 years. I’ve seen a few mushrooms here and there, but this year they have EXPLODED in numbers. In the past I had to hunt for hours to find ONE STINKING MUSHROOM for a photography contest I entered at the local library, this year it is hard not to step on them. I wonder if the heavy wildfire smoke we experienced at the end of the summer had anything to do with their growth. Or perhaps more likely, the fact that our 55+ strong flock of chickens and herd of goats who probably used to feast on them dwindled down to 4 birds who rarely leave the safety of the yard.

Although I do forage for a few types of edible wild mushrooms (very distinct looking morels primarily), I can’t identify any of these. BUT, if they are edible I will absolutely eat them, so if any mushroom experts are reading this, please comment below! I am going to do some research as well.

So on to the photography stuff: Today was a freaking day. Actually the last 550+ days have been a day. For real. No, but this one involved some tears, specifically mine, which then called a long walk in the woods to get my mind right again. My first lap through the trees I was trying to actually exercise and make good time, I had the dogs, iPhone, and no big camera. Actually I kind of have a bad attitude about the woods in the winter season pertaining to photography. Not justifiably, but I’ve always felt it doesn’t photography as “prettily” as other, brighter areas of the property, it’s overgrown, rugged, steep, dark, super brushy and tangly… there’s freaking mountain lions and crap galore… possibly a wolf… and we all know that photographers and mushroom pickers who are bent over in the dark woods, looking like a prey animal are the ones who get munched on first. I did find a pile of bones at the bottom of a tree which means something dragged it’s dinner UP a tree to eat it (cougar). So anyway, I’m usually fairly creeped out if I go in without dogs. But this time, my walk inspired me and I saw new beauty and found myself full of creative ideas. The forest wasn’t sleeping, it was alive.

Since sunset was coming and I needed the woods to not be dark and creepy af, I ditched the dogs, grabbed the big camera with my 100mm 1.2 macro attached and went back in, excited to dive into some much needed photography therapy. In one of the few photography books I’ve actually read (parts of anyway… haha) one of the things I picked up was to photograph a subject as though you are the subject. Like, from its perspective so that’s kind of how I like to approach my macro or nature shoots. These kinds of photos are honestly a little more challenging for me in general because it’s not a sunrise or sunset that is right in front of my face; when shooting macro I have to try a little harder to get into the scene, frame it, compose it, and see it from a different perspective. But once I get down to the forest floor and look at all of the textures and layers of life… it’s just amazing what all there is to see. Even the decaying leaf mulch is beautifully interesting. I kept taking pictures of random things I found interesting and later totally loved the results, but at the time totally just loved that creative freedom and exploration as well as being present in the forest.

---

The gear/settings I used were: Canon 5D Miv, 100mm L at f2.8; 1/200 sec shutter, ISO 400-800. Natural light/sunlight and handheld (which is why I didn’t go below 1/200 sec shutter with a 100mm focal length.

Edited in Adobe Lightroom 10, using my Studio 623 // Beautiful Macros Preset

---

So there I was, crawling around on my hands and knees on the squishy forest floor… discovering bits of lush moss, spying on the tiniest bugs, and uncovering new slimy mushrooms from the woodland mulch… suddenly all was right in my world again.

I hope you enjoy what I saw this afternoon! Be sure to check out the shop link to see a few of these, and other artwork pieces.

See more artwork for sale here!