A complete view

Nodding ladies' tresses

​Big pictures are made up of small details. That thought came from, of all places, quotes posted on the internet. I searched for inspiration about detailed photography. Two quotes appeared quite promising to me.

​A quote attributed to Sanford I. Weill, said, “Details create the big picture.”

Another quote said, “When you pay attention to detail, the big picture will take care of itself.”  That statement was attributed to Georges St-Pierre.

Cone flower bloom

​The background of those quoted was surprising. I thought maybe the two statements were from artists or photographers. 

I was wrong.

Sanford I. Weill is the founder of Citigroup, a financier and philanthropist. Georges St-Pierre is a mixed martial artist.
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Nonetheless, photography can help reveal intricate details that add up creating a bigger picture. 

Old man of the woods mushroom

​Close-up photos of mushrooms and fungus aided me in identifying them. The photos revealed textures and details that one might miss just walking by. Having a side-by-side comparison was especially helpful when looking up information in mushroom field guides.

Oyster mushrooms

Chicken of the woods

Eyelash cup

Black trumpets

​Pictures of the mushrooms’ undersides displayed the difference between gills and pores. A zoom lens was especially helpful with those fungi located 20 or more feet up a tree.
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A closer look at the top of an old man of the woods mushroom displayed a unique surface. Photos of a few black trumpets revealed lovely patterns and textures. The photos were a little deceptive as the mushrooms aren’t that large.

Chocolate tube slime mold

Dacrymyces palmatus, or orange jelly fungus

Possible parasola plicatilis mushroom or pleated ink cap

​Some Facebook posts that were of mushroom spores under a microscope inspired me.

I tried to get a few spores to come into focus, but I wasn’t successful.

​I did smush the gills against the glass slide and discovered something moving. There were nematodes, worms or some type of larva hidden in the gills.  

​Meanwhile, I was able to see some pollen under the microscope. While, not fungus, the ghost pipe is a perennial wildflower that uses fungi to feed.

Ghost pipe

Ghost pipe

“Ghost Pipe is unlike most plants because it doesn’t rely on sunlight for energy. It doesn’t contain chlorophyll, so it doesn’t photosynthesize. Instead, it taps into fungi that connect to tree roots, getting nutrients indirectly from the trees,” said a post on naturalistguide.com. ​

Ghost pipe pollen

Meanwhile an April article posted by Penn State stated that the plant has garnered some interest from a research team.

​The study’s authors claimed that there was an uptick in the harvest and economic trade of this plant due to social media and the internet.

​People were starting to use the mysterious plant for medicinal purposes.

Team leader and senior author on the study Eric Burkhart, was quoted as saying, “As a wild harvested species, little has been documented about its use throughout the U.S. and any growing conservation needs.
This study helps to inform future research and education efforts so that consumer safety and wild conservation efforts can both be appropriately targeted and aligned.”     

​Zooming in on a couple of native orchids unveiled intricate blooms that made up a set of blossoms.

While the group of tiny flowers made the plants visible, there was so much more going on with a closer look.

​Both downy rattlesnake plantain and nodding ladies’ tresses sport showy small white flowers that grow on one stem. 

​A close-up photo of whorled yellow loosestrife revealed a spider hanging out in the background. 

​Meanwhile, the microscope uncovered the reason for the neighbor’s pond being green this summer.

​As the summer warmed up and the rain lessened the green hue covered more and more areas.

​The emerald coloring was due to tiny, microscopic creatures in the euglena family. 

Downy rattlesnake plantain

Euglena bloom

Eventually cooler weather controlled the spread of the little critters. ​

Euglena

Euglena

​Zooming on other woodland creatures created the illusion of tiny orange dinosaurs roaming around the forest floor.

Earlier this year when things were moist in the woods, I saw as many as ten of these tiny creatures on my walk. I only got photos of eight.
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Meanwhile a May 31 Facebook post on the Warren-based Allegheny Outfitters’ page told of viewing the red eft newt as well.

Red eft newts

“In the first two miles on Toms Run, we averaged 10 red eft newt per mile (npm). Once we picked up Ironwood trail, that declined drastically to a disappointing two newt per mile. But those adorable little salamanders in their orange suits really picked things up at the end, averaging 19.3333333 newt per mile for the final 1.5 once back on Tanbark and Toms Run,” the post stated.
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“A whopping 53 red eft newts over 5.5 miles, with an overall average of 9.6363636364 newts per mile!,” the post concluded.

I surmised that I had roughly about that same average on my walk. We cover up to a mile on our daily treks. 

Northern pearly eye butterfly

Pinecone

Common whitetail dragonfly

Teaberries

​However, sometimes we can get wrapped up in small details. With a few steps back the big picture comes into focus. At a glimpse, the ghost pipe is a unique tiny parasitic wildflower. A closer look at the plant may reveal a bigger medicinal benefit.
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That’s just the nature of things ‘round here.