TITLE: Shelfies: Turkey Tails

As a photographer I become more and more fascinated with the wild variety of mushrooms which are the wildflowers of the woods or the mushrooms in our midst. In fact, this series of Turkey Tails shows such variety in shadings and rings, the monochrome versions shown here are individual in their appearance. In fact, just as the tree's rings within its wood shows the age of the tree, so the rings of this particular shelf mushroom show age. You want them on your deadwood to break down the debris of the woods, and, more recently, Turkey Tails or shelf mushrooms are helping treat patients undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. They are quite common as a variety, but within that variety the shadings and how they array themselves, as shown in these images, for a stylish appearance are very individualistic.

AUTHOR: Y. Hope Osborn (United States)

Y. Hope Osborn is an author, photographer, digital artist, editor, and web designer residing in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. Her published writing includes ecological experiences that educate and entertain and personal traumas that encourage survivors and expose victimization. She photographs the jewels of color landscapes, mindful of unique, momentary beauty. She composes black and white abstract and documentary photographic studies of historic and timeworn architecture in rich tonality, vivid texture, and creative perspective alongside texts of history and her story, weaving art with how she/we think, feel, believe, connect, and care.

Hope has a MA in Professional and Technical Writing and is published as author and artist with Woods Reader, Plants and Poetry Journal, Whitefish Review, University of Arkansas at Little Rock Writers’ Network, Awakenings, and The Sunlight Press, including blogs, Fusion Arts and Red Cross. Her works are exhibited and awarded, including Monovisions Awards, Neutral Density, Julia Margaret Cameron Photography Award, Not Real Art Artist Award, and See|Me, internationally, online, and off (Portland, Oregon; New York City; Santa Paula, California, Arkansas—USA and Barcelona, Spain).

Hope believes being a great author and artist is to be entrusted to express reality and imagination that captivates, inspires, or informs while enriching lives.