"Blue Pinkgill" Limited Print Run of 30 (Copy)

Entoloma hochstetteri Photography

There were no blue mushrooms.

It was hard to hide our disappointment when a New Zealand Department of Conservation ranger told us Abel Tasman had been too dry. We were likely weeks too early to find the elusive blue pinkgill mushroom (Entoloma hochstetteri)—a rare species known for its surreal, sky-blue color and found only in select forests of New Zealand.

This was the reason we had traveled halfway around the world.

But chasing rare natural moments rarely goes according to plan.

After years of photographing fleeting phenomena, I shifted into problem-solving mode. A few tips pointed us south toward the West Coast, where conditions might be better. I pulled up recent sightings on iNaturalist, rerouted our trip, and we set off toward the beech forests of Westland in search of one of the most unique mushrooms in the world.

Six hours later, we arrived at Lake Brunner.

I tried to keep expectations low. The last reported sighting had been two weeks earlier. But within ten minutes of hiking the trail, we spotted it. Our first blue pinkgill mushroom.

Tiny. Fragile. Electric blue against the forest floor.

It didn’t feel real.

We spent the next hour photographing it from every angle, completely absorbed. Further along the trail, we found a few more—one pair glowing even brighter than the first. Each one felt like discovering treasure hidden in plain sight.

But what made this moment unforgettable wasn’t just the rarity of the subject.

It was sharing it with my son.

We had traveled across the world to find something ephemeral—something most people will never see in person. And for a brief moment, deep in a quiet New Zealand forest, we found it together.

This blue mushroom photography print is a reminder that the most extraordinary moments in nature are often the hardest to find.