Beauty in an Autumn Fog

Autumn Fog

Autumn Fog © 2013 Bo Mackison

“In nature, everything has a job. The job of the fog is to beautify further the existing beauties!” ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

I have been waiting for the sun to brighten the landscapes in the Madison area.

I had a list of places I wanted to visit during Wisconsin’s beautiful autumn. I waited and waited. And those magical sun-filled days did not appear. I held on so tightly to the idea of “need sun for this explore” and eventually I had to cross several places off my list – places that close for the season on October 31st.

Yesterday I finally took a long look at the calendar, and realized I was not getting a single one of all those October days back. True, it’s been a busy, eventful month, but there were days when I changed plans due to weather, thinking I could fit a visit in when the weather was more suitable. Yesterday, I realized there were only two days left in October, and I had not visited many of the places I usually visit to soak in the autumn beauty.

It was foggy, a bit misty. But I pulled out my winter coat, waterproof and warm, and went for a walk in a nearby park. The fog was moody, thick in some places on the trail, but it offered an interesting color intensity that I would likely have missed if I were walking in bright sunlight. In the gray mist, the colors that do show through are mystical and mesmerizing. An unexpected gift.

Today it is no longer foggy. The rain has washed the foggy blanket away. Perhaps today is a good enough day to explore a rainy autumn day.

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Disclosure: There are several good reasons why I pack up and head to Arizona for the dark seasons of the year. I do love Arizona’s stark beauty fiercely. I also love her sunshine., especially since I have Seasonal Affective Disorder, and the lack of sun plays havoc with my biological chemistry. I delayed my travels this year, for the very best of reasons, and decided to play it smart once I noticed the effects the diminishing sunlight had on my moods and energy levels. I have a thing about taking medications, but there is a time when it is the right call. The treatment appears to be helping, hence the photos of the park in yesterday’s fog.

The Filling Tree

Old Oak

Ancient Oak © 2013 Bo Mackison

“The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web.” ~ Pablo Picasso

This tree, an ancient oak, stands a few yards from the mown path through meadow and a prairie restoration. Solid, deeply connected in the earth, a tribute to time.

Whenever I pass this tree, I stop. Compelled to stop. I seem unable to walk past the tree without pausing, walking through the brambles and sticks of growing sumac, until I stand next to this giant. Rest my hand on its bark. That’s all. Just rest my hand upon it, and connect its pulse with my pulse. Sap beat. Heart beat.

I think. I wait. I breathe. I peer into he upper most branches. I feel my feet grounded on the earth, as the tree is grounded the earth. I run my finger through along the ridges and the valleys of the wood. I see pictures in its wavy trunk lines. I listen the woodpecker’s drumming. I stand in the shadow of the tree, and notice the breeze that swirls around the both of us. The experience fills me.

And then I continue on my walk.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She explores wherever she goes, with and without her camera.

A Morning Walk in Owen Conservation Park

Parking Lot Nursery

Bucket Nursery © 2013 Bo Mackison

A picture of many colors proclaims images of many thoughts. ~ Donna Favors

I took the opportunity on a recent sunny morning to walk in Owen Conservation Park, a park only a few minutes from my home. When I began making photographs in a serious way – by that I mean making photos as a daily practice – Madison Wisconsin’s Owen Park was one of my first haunts. I recall those early mornings in an October six or so years ago, when I struggled with light and exposure, aperture settings and shutter speed.

Often, I had no clue what settings I might prefer to use for a certain feel, and so I simply took pictures, hundreds of pictures. Every day. And after many months of making photographs and studying them, I began to l get a feel for my camera and what it could do. It was almost a surprise to me, several years later, when I realized I could work my camera’s settings without much thought. What a glorious discovery that was!

It is my plan to walk this park every week – note the changes as the summer season approaches and the days warm. I’ll post the photos from my weekly explorations, but I’m not going to write much, except to add a few quotes. Mostly, I want to keep a record of my weekly excursions throughout the park, throughout the summer. And see what there is to see.

Bones of Sunflowers

Prairie Bones © 2013 Bo Mackison

“Solvitur ambulando.”

Latin translation — “It is solved by walking.” ~ Diogenes

White Flowering Shrub

White Flowering Shrub © 2013 Bo Mackison

In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous. ~ Aristotle

Owen Park

Owen Park © 2013 Bo Mackison

Change is inevitable. Accept the old and embrace the new. Blend the two and that is you. ~ Anon

Sumac

Sumac © 2013 Bo Mackison

Beauty surrounds us. ~ Rumi

Indigo

Indigo Blossoms © 2013 Bo Mackison

The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide world’s joy. ~ Henry Ward Beecher

Spring Trees

Spring-Green Trees © 2013 Bo Mackison

I wish the days to not be cheap, but sacred.
I wish the days to be as centuries, loaded, fragrant. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Owen Park

More Prairie Bones © 2013 Bo Mackison

He who wishes to explore Nature must tread her books with his feet. ~ Paracelsus

Spindly Petals, Spring Yellow Flower

Spindly Petals © 2013 Bo Mackison

All of nature begins to whisper its secrets to us through its sounds. Sounds that were previously incomprehensible to our soul now become the meaningful language of nature.
~ Rudolf Steiner

Spirea

Spirea Blossoms © 2013 Bo Mackison

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

These photographs of Owen Conservation Park on Madison’s Far West Side are from June 7, as the hour approached noon. The days before this day had been rainy and so the park was lush and green. And a bit damp, too. The temperatures were in the mid 70s, and the skies were mostly clear, the most blue the skies had been in many a day.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She explores wherever she goes, with and without her camera.

Life is Like a Puzzle

Tree Silhouettes

Tree Silhouettes © 2013 Bo Mackison

“Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.”
~ Yoko Ono

On my month-long break from the Southwest, I returned to Wisconsin’s winter, and discovered this year’s snow season felt more brutal than in the past. The nearly two feet of snow that fell during the earlier part of my visit has had no opportunity to melt. The snow is as deep as the day it fell, though it has been swept aside from walks and roads to make it more manageable for travel.

Even so, my outdoor explorations were limited to walks around the neighborhood and a few sojourns by car. There is no such thing — for me — as a wander in a forest or a tramp through a field or prairie if I have to plow through depths of snow with each step I take.

And so the photos have been few. They all fall into a single category – trees in snowy winter. I do love the trees in winter, the branches exposed, the skeletal trunks and limbs showing the soul of the tree. Even the conifers have a minimalist feel to them.

This morning’s sunrise  – I’m watching it as I write – will be my last in wintry Wisconsin for quite a while. It’s a pale sunrise this morning, as if the cold has frozen the rays into a cool white light.

The snow is a beautiful sight from my windows, but I miss being in the middle of nature, in the midst of the weather and the breezes, tramping on the land.

There is much I miss when I am away from Wisconsin and living in the Tucson area. There is much I miss when I am away from Arizona and living in Wisconsin.  Life is rather like a puzzle — you fit the tiny pieces in as you find them, not sure of the big picture. Each day is a new puzzle piece, and they all fit together to make one huge whopping, incredible, messy life.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Tomorrow is a transition day – travel, comings and goings, many opportunities ahead. Keeping my eyes open in anticipation.

Sun, Rise

Wisconsin Sunrise

Sunrise © 2012 Bo Mackison

There was never a night that could defeat the sunrise. ~ Bern Williams

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Visit her Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/seededearthstudio