by Kate Berry
of The Weekly Staff
When people think of fungi, they don’t normally picture beautiful pieces of art. A grayish-brown mushroom is usually what comes to mind.
Rachel Benway set out to change this common assumption. With just a point-and-shoot camera and the backyard of her home, she brings the world of fungi to life.
The homeschooled Hermon high schooler put together a portfolio of her fungi photography for a senior project.
It all started with a “really weird, orange thing” on the lawn at Benway’s home.
“I thought it was an orange peel or a piece of plastic, but it looked so strange so I went outside to see what it was,” Benway said. “I wondered if it was a fungus so I went back inside, looked it up and it turned out to be orange peel fungus.”
Benway has an array of fungi photos from different angles and distances. The size of the fungi tested her macrophotography skills.
“The big challenge is taking pictures of fungi that are really small,” Benway said. “I have pictures of some that aren’t much bigger than the head of a pin, but you can’t even tell by the picture.”
Thirty-five colorful fungi photos will be exhibited at The Rock and Art Shop at 36 Central St. in downtown Bangor through June 26. The pictures will be accompanied with fun fungi facts.
The store’s hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.
“The average person doesn’t know too much about fungi and they seem to have that image of just a typical brown mushroom,” Benway said. “I’m hoping the exhibit will give a glimpse of the vast variety [of fungi] that is out there.”