Japan is a wet place. It rains year round, and the average humidity in the summer is close to 80%. Keeping towels and wet shoes mold free is a constant battle. I've even seen mushrooms growing on the wood decking on our balcony. So, you can imagine that in the woods, where they are free to grow, molds and fungi can quickly take over. Yesterday, while visiting a creek in Seto, Japan with my family, we went under the trees at one point to take shelter from the rain. There, in the shade and damp under the trees,  we saw little splotches of color popping out here and there, from the earth, and off of the sides of the trees. Looking more closely, we realized that they were mushrooms, and we started searching around to see how many different varieties we could find. I don't have a true macro lens, but I focused as close as I could with my 24-70 zoom. My aperture in the shadows of the trees was a wide open 2.8 so the depth of field was extremely shallow, meaning I had to look carefully through the viewfinder to get the right focal point. Also, my camera does not have an articulating view screen, so for some photos, I actually had my cheek against the ground as I tried to look through the viewfinder. I love the way mushrooms look when photographed from a low angle, like strange trees, so it was worth a little dirt on my face.