Epic Mushroom Hunts, Stunning Imagery.
Planet Fungi - A Photographer’s Foray
In Book Stores - August 2025
Authors: Catherine Marciniak, Stephen Axford and Tom May. Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
After years in the making, we’re thrilled to finally share the news: our long-awaited coffee table book, Planet Fungi – A Photographer’s Foray will be released globally in August 2025—and it’s available to pre-order now.
We couldn’t be more excited, and we wanted our loyal followers to be the first to know.
This visually stunning and scientifically rich book follows photographer Stephen Axford and writer Catherine Marciniak on an extraordinary journey into the fungal kingdom.
It all began with a chance encounter in the forest—with a small purple mushroom that changed everything. That moment sparked Stephen’s obsession with fungi and set him and Catherine on a quest to capture the beauty and diversity of this mysterious kingdom.
With an estimated 2–5 million species of fungi on Earth, and only around 155,000 described so far, the world of fungi remains one of nature’s last great frontiers.
From rainforest floors to alpine lichens, from deadly mushrooms to those that glow in the dark, Planet Fungi reveals the unexpected beauty, complexity, and ecological power of fungi—inviting readers to see the natural world with new eyes.
“A stunning exploration of a hidden world. These are among the most remarkable images of fungi I’ve ever seen, woven into relation by a series of writings that beautifully illuminate the mysteries and wonders of fungal life.”
– Merlin Sheldrake, author of Entangled Life
“A wondrous journey through epic fungal encounters, with sublime photography and beautiful tales.”
– Giuliana Furci, Founding Director, Fungi Foundation
➡️ Pre-order your copy now through CSIRO Publishing - Americas, Australia and New Zealand
➡️Rest of world – pre-order through CABI
or your favourite bookseller. Here are a few options …
🛒 Amazon 📖 Readings 📚 Booktopia 🏞️ NSW Books 🎓 UNSW Bookshop 🏛️ Abbey’s Bookshop 🌍 The Nile
Authors L-R: Tom May, Catherine Marciniak and Stephen Axford
EXTRACT: Planet Fungi: A Photographers Foray
“One of our photographic quests in chronicling the life of fungi is to capture the magical, sometimes fleeting moment of spore release.
Puffballs can be extraordinarily theatrical, suddenly erupting into a cloud of billions of spores with a raindrop’s kiss, or the nudge of a passing animal.”
Behind the scenes of Planet Fungi: A Photographer’s Foray
Puffball Magic in Motion
This dramatic display of spore release didn’t happen by chance—it was a carefully choreographed duet. While Stephen captured a series of bracketed stills, Catherine flicked droplets from leaves to trigger the puffballs into action. The result? A still image of fungal theatre, pulsing with movement, just like the real thing.
UPCOMING EVENTS
FUNGI: Web of Life
Join biologist Dr. Merlin Sheldrake on a stunning journey into the hidden world of fungi. Set in Tassie’s ancient Tarkine rainforest, Fungi: Web of Life reveals fungi’s vital role in life on Earth through breathtaking time-lapse imagery.
📍🗓️ Where and When: Narooma (21 Jun) includes Q&A with Executive Producers and creatives Stephen Axford and Catherine Marciniak.
Merimbula (28 Jun), Moruya (5 Jul), Bateman's Bay (12 Jul) and Barragga Bay (20 Jul).
The Mushroom Whisperers
🗓️ When: 20 July 2025, 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
📍 Where: Four Winds, 17 Four Winds Rd, Barragga Bay NSW 2546, Australia
Elektra Collective Unconscious team with the work of acclaimed filmmakers from Planet Fungi present a captivating fusion of live music & film. Featuring Stephen Axford’s stunning time-lapse imagery, the performance reveals the hidden rhythms & beauty of fungi in an immersive multisensory experience.
New York "FUNGI" Exhibition
📍 Where: BWAC Gallery, Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York.
🗓️ When: Saturday, June 7 – Sunday, June 29, 2025, weekends 1‐6 P.M
Planet Fungi's Ephemeral Kingdom, a fungi video artwork, is part of the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition & Brooklyn Mushroom’s international juried art exhibition FUNGI, in New York, USA.
This one-of-a-kind all-fungi art show dives deep into the mysterious world of mushrooms through visual art, sculpture, sound, video, and live performance. It’s a celebration of fungi at the intersection of art, science, psychedelics, and biology.
If you’re in Brooklyn, we invite you to wander through the show and be transported by Ephemeral Kingdom — a time-lapsed, textural journey into the fleeting beauty and pulse of fungal life, with music by Romano Crivici and Carla Thackrah.
🌐 More info: https://www.bwac.org/exhibition-content/fungi