Prickly Pear in Bloom

Prickly Pear in Bloom

Prickly Pear in Bloom © 2013 Bo Mackison

“If you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for a moment.”
~ Georgia O’Keeffe

Not that I would want to take a flower from a cactus in my hand, but I understand Georgia O’Keeffe’s remark about having the world for a moment. When I stop on a desert path or in a desert garden, I feel as if the world opens before me and I see the beauty, the complexity, the order of the Universe.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio. She is beginning a time of transition, and collecting the beauty of the desert – in her memory and in photographs.

Torch Cacti in Bloom at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

Many Red Torches

Many Red Torches © 2012 Bo Mackison

What a marvelous send-off I had this past week!

I have visited the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum just west of Tucson two or three times a week since mid-January. Each time I visit, I manage to find new wonders. Sometimes I sit on a bench and simply absorb the desert surroundings. Sometimes I visit with the docents who amaze me with the depths of their knowledge on almost any desert topic. Last week I stopped at the Prairie dog exhibit to watch the new babies pop out of their burrows —  only the second day they were out and about exploring the world of the sun.

And on my last visit to the Desert Museum I was treated to an explosion of color as the Torch Cactus Garden had just erupted in a display of red, pink, yellow, orange and white. No wonder the sign in this garden bed proclaims these flowers a “Fireworks of Color!

 

Yellow Torch

Yellow Torch © 2012 Bo Mackison

Each bloom only lasts one day and they bloomed early this year.  I photographed these flowers over a period of several hours on April 25, a month earlier than is typical. (Last year’s peak bloom was around May 24-25.)

Magenta Torch Flowers

Magenta Torch Flowers © 2012 Bo Mackison

The Torch Cactus (Trichocereus) is not native to Arizona but adapts well to this climate and to landscaped gardens when planted in a filtered sun setting. I imagine these plants would be welcome in any desert garden – what gorgeous, showy flowers they are!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC, living and photographing in southern Arizona from January through April. She returns for the July monsoons.

Senita – Soon to Flower

Senita Blooming

Senita in Bud

He who sees into the secret inner life of the plant,
into the stirring of its powers,
and observes how the flower gradually unfolds itself,
sees the matter with quite different eyes
— he knows what he sees.
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

On a desert explore today. Will have photos and a report soon.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is in the desert today.

Cactus Beauties

Cactus Blossoms

Cactus Blossoms © 2011 Bo Mackison

More cactus flowers.

I’m studying this cactus plant right now. It’s easy to do as it is blooming only a hundred feet from my front door. Today there was a cloud cover towards the end of the day, and I knew I had to go back out and re-shoot these flowers. The desert sun, even when it is low on the horizon, is wicked bright, and I didn’t have enough hands to manage camera and deflector. But today–today the clouds provided a natural deflector and the colors came out soft and even.

Hedgehog Cactus in Bloom

Hedgehog Cactus in Bloom © 2011 Bo Mackison

It was a windy day, but the nice thing about a cactus in bloom? The flowers are close to the plant, and wind doesn’t whip the flowers around, at least not the way the wind whips flowers on stems.

I’m still studying these blossoms. I brought a thick, rubber car mat with me from Wisconsin, thinking that if I had the chance, I might want to have some protection from the desert floor as I took photographs. Tomorrow, I’ll get the mat and try some different views. That’s the best part about photography–all the experimenting.

Cactus Red

Cactus Red © 2011 Bo Mackison

Sometimes I just sit and look at a plant for awhile, a long while. Try and absorb its character, its beauty.

I had another photographer approach me when I was shooting at the botanical gardens a couple of days ago. He asked me if I was done with my shoot. I said no, I was studying the angles of the flower and looking at the shades of color. He shrugged and turned to leave, then he looked over his shoulder and said, “You must be one of those art-y kind of photographers.”

That made me laugh. Actually — I just love sitting in desert botanical gardens.