Agorastos Papatsanis (Greece) illuminates swirls of spores appearing to dance beneath the gills of a deer shield mushroom.
Intent on revealing the magic of spore dispersal, Agorastos set up umbrellas to minimise air flow, positioned a light and a reflector and angled his camera with a polarising filter to highlight this often-unseen action.
‘I wanted to share with people this unique, unknown way that mushrooms reproduce,’ Agorastos explains. ‘To reveal something not visible is very exciting and so this image has a very special meaning for me.’
This wood-rotting fungus most often emerges on the stumps and fallen branches of broad-leaved trees. Its streaked stalk - up to 15 millimetres in diameter - supports a cap that’s usually fawn coloured.
Greece
Agorastos is a professional photographer based in Thessaloniki in northern Greece. He’s won numerous awards in major photographic competitions, including European Nature Photographer of the Year, Asferico, Big Picture and MontPhoto. His photographs have also been published in National Geographic.
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