Imre Potyó's Image

Imre Potyó (Hungary) conjures a magical moment from the forest floor.

Imre arrived at dusk in search of a ripe fungus. When darkness fell, he gently tapped it hoping to capture random patterns backlit with his flash. To his delight the air flow obliged, creating ephemeral trails as the puffball cast its spores into the forest night.

Many puffballs have a crusty surface that, at maturity, develops a small opening at the top. When heavy rain hits the puffball, millions of tiny spores stream out to be swept away on the breeze. Lack of rain, possibly due to a changing climate, has inhibited fungal development in this region of Hungary for much of the past decade, limiting the dispersal of these vital decomposers.