Cactus Sprout

Cactus Sprout!

Cactus Sprout © 2012 Bo Mackison

Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.   ~ Herman Hesse

It has been a quiet weekend. There was time for retreat and quiet and there were other times I spent in research, setting some short term goals and a few long term goals, gathering resources.

I wanted to share this lovely cactus, all rosy in its new growth. These cacti appear to be such simple plants  – a long column, lots of thorny spines and a few arms. But upon close examination, I find them to be exquisitely intricate in a quiet way. I enjoyed photographing this particular species, it was a good plant to work with this weekend.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. More slow photography on an intentionally slowed-down weekend. Activity will pick up as the week progresses.

Nature’s Abstract

Nature's Abstract

Nature's Abstract © 2012 Bo Mackison

A photographer sees the world through a filter. Not the interchangeable filters for lenses, but the filter in the photographer’s mind through which an unfolding scene is seen as a photograph. ~ Bo Mackison

Pincushion cacti are rather small cacti. Globular, lots of protruding, sharply hewn spines. Almost easy to pass by in the search for the giant saguaro, the prickly pear with its oval sculptural pads, the ocotillo waving green branches with the tips turning red with flowers.

Then I saw these little groups of pincushions. I liked how they were bunched together in little pods of three or five, and since my camera was ready on my tripod,  I took a few photos.

Later in the studio, I enlarged the photo  — and wow, it was no longer a simple little cactus. I’m studying the desert, letting in the immensity of the place while still focusing on and  absorbing the tiny spaces. There were sure some tiny spaces in between the spines of this not-a-friend-of seamstresses pincushion. I sure loved it, though.

Spaces — this is an entangled pattern of tiny spaces, tiny bits of shadow and light from the cactus spines.

How do I look at these spaces? Seeking? Searching?

Turn the spaces into words through metaphor? Struggle with the concept of spaces with danger or limitations? Give thanks for the infinite variety of spaces and places? Celebrate life and the wholeness of the world, place by place, and tiny space by tiny space?

Do you examine spaces? What thoughts come to mind when you observe the many complexities of tiny spaces such as these cacti?

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  She is exploring the Sonoran Desert and examining the smallest of spaces while allowing in big thoughts.

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