SOMA’s (free) General Meeting at the Sebastopol Grange. Please bring any mushrooms you would like help identifying! Doors at 530pm. Potluck around 6pm.

645pm Presentation "From Macro to Micro - The Art of Mushroom & Myxo Photography” by Alison Pollack

Alison’s favorite photography subjects are tiny fungi and Myxomycetes (“Myxos” or “Slime Molds”), most so small that you would not see them as you walk through the forest. Alison will describe her evolution and process for creating beautiful photos of mushrooms and Myxos, most barely a few millimeters tall. She will share her techniques for field work as well as studio photography using extreme macro lenses and microscope objectives adapted to her camera. And, of course, she will share some of her favorite photographs from local and distant regions. She will discuss all of the gear she uses as well as some of her methods for shooting and post-processing.  She will also discuss how to identify myxos using microscopy.

Alison Pollack is a macro and extreme macro photographer specializing in Myxomycetes (slime molds) and tiny fungi. Her passion is finding and photographing these beautiful organisms, especially the smaller ones, to bring awareness to the spectacular beauty that exists right at our feet as we walk through the forest. Her goal is to reveal these miniature beauties of the forest in a format that is as much art as science. Alison shares her photographs online where she has amassed a large and enthusiastic following from around the world. Her otherworldly images are captioned with information about her subjects, as well as technical details of her photography process. Alison’s photographs have been featured in dozens of print and online publications, including National Geographic, the Sunday New York Times, Der Spiegel and Science Weekly.  She has been a top winner many times in the the prestigious Nikon Small World photography competition and is one of the Nikon Masters of Microscopy.