Gabriola Island mushroomA while ago GALTT (Gabriola Land and Trails Trust) announced that they were sponsoring a Beginners Edible Wild Mushroom Workshop on Gabriola. (The instructor is Jessica Wolf, also known as Jessica Snider.) Sounds perfect, I thought, sign me up!

I was about to register when I spotted this section of the registration form on the instructor’s website:

I understand that the mushroom workshop I attend may be video-taped or photographed. I give Jessica Snider and her assigns the right to publish, and/or reproduce any of these videos and photos of me for stock photography, magazines, advertising, educational, trade show displays, packaging, and any other legal uses of photography in Canada and abroad. I relinquish the right to inspect said photos or videos, and I understand that any of my photos or videos may be digitally altered for artistic or commercial purposes.

Huh what? I don’t bloody think so. Why would I pay to attend a workshop, only to have the instructor profit from selling images of me to some stock photography website? That’s insane.

So I instead of registering for the workshop, I decided I’d do some learning on my own. Want to see my shiny new mushroom identification books? They are:

From time to time I’ll post a photo of a Gabriola mushroom here, along with information about it, or with my attempts to identify it. You can help with that part, if you like.

UPDATE, fall 2010: Jessica Wolf is offering her Beginner’s Wild Edible Mushroom Workshop on Gabriola again this November. (And yes, the same photography clause is still on the registration form.) This time the workshop is offered through the Gabriola Commons.

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