dearheart

FALLEN GARDENS TRAILER 2011 from Mike McKinlay on Vimeo.


This is the latest nature video from Mike McKinlay. Mike has a hand in a lot of different pies, as his website will attest. He has a knack for creating documentaries that appeal to very different audiences. Previous nature documentaries have focused on crows, herons and apparently a very early project centered around a ground squirrel colony. He has also done a series of shorts for the Pacific Coast Wildlife Fund.
Fallen Gardens has such a tongue in cheek sinister quality which is so successful because it is about deer. One of natures most gentle creatures, certainly no threat. Not personally at least.

In Second Nature, his treatise on gardening, Michael Pollan describes the difference between the damage done in his garden by a woodchuck and doe "[The woodchucks] devour a crop systematically, whereas a doe--nervous, and possessing perhaps a more developed sense of shame--will nibble a plant here, snip a shoot there, and then, startled by a falling leaf or something equally perilous to a two-hundred-pound mammal, dash off before her meal is done." Although perhaps the residents of this specific neighborhood would disagree.

And deer really do seem to be symbols of serenity and gentleness. Perhaps it is and subconscious association with Bambi.

Both photos of 'Bambi' courtesy of Hope Images


Or perhaps not.

Bugs.

I was immediately drawn to the image for Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo. Although at the time I wasn't sure if it would be a documentary or a monster movie or perhaps something similar to 'Kiss of the Spider Woman'. But documentary it is, highlighting Japan's interest in Insects.

I find that our western attitude to things that creep and crawl is far from positive. I'm sure that very few children I know would be saving up for a beetle of any kind.
But insects do possess an alien beauty. Different from us in almost every way possible they have inspired the horrific and the exquisite.

Christopher Marley photographs insects and such a way that they appear as beautiful jewels. In mosaic photos such as the one above, they are not ordered by taxonomy, but arranged only for aesthetics.
In the single photos such as the one above, the beetles look more like mounted specimens. And indeed, specimens of this Macrodontia Cervicorniscan grow very large and collect a great deal of money.
I think I prefer the idea of a private collector buying one of Morley's photos than an actual specimen.

Fungus

Fungi by Groundwork found on Etsy.com.

Here in Vancouver, as the rain sets in, it is Fungus season.
Last weeks walk in the woods revealed many fascinating varieties, none of which I have the skill to identify. However, I'm grateful that someone can, as wild crafted mushrooms are appearing at the market and making me hungry.
I was also lucky enough to stumble across this gem a few weeks ago.
Know your Mushrooms the 2009 documentary by Ron Mann. It's bit silly at times but filled with some fascinating bits of information and very knowledgeable nutty old guys tramping about in the woods animatedly spouting the wonders of fungi. They really do know their stuff and the section of the film that was predictably devoted to Psilocybin (magic) mushrooms was not the bulk of the narrative.


I found these beautiful leather mushrooms at wherethelovelythingsare.com but they were reposted from nuno magazine where you can subscribe and find the tutorial.

If you prefer a look at Fungi that is more serious and educational (and narrated by David Attenborough-who you will come to learn is one of my great heroes) here is a clip from the BBC I'm enchanted by the magical dance of the time-lapse filming. And by the many forms that the fungi can take. The white-netted fungus (Phallus indusiatus) being one of the loveliest, and most surprising to watch unfold.

Here it is again in this gorgeous vintage botanical available here.