A Series of Photographs – Exploring the Creative Process

Palo Verde

Palo Verde © 2014 Bo Mackison

Lens: Jimmy
Film: Claunch 72 Monochrome

Often I am a slow photographer.

I check the times of sunrise and sunset, and plan shooting times to take advantage of the golden light. I pack my camera bag with a combination of multiple lenses and diffusers and hoods, with dust protectors and extra batteries and memory cards. I attach a heavy tripod to the bag, too.

This is slow photography. I sit and absorb the feel of a place. I connect with the space. I may wait for a certain cloud formation to float into a certain location, or a shadow to darken a rock.

And though it can be hard work, I find most of  the process passionately engaging. (I could do without the extra gear weight, especially when hiking in the desert, but…that’s part of the experience.)

Palo Verde

Palo Verde © 2014 Bo Mackison

Lens: Jane
Film: Blanko

But sometimes I am a spur of the moment photographer.

I grab my iPhone. I open the camera and I start shooting.

One of my favorite techniques for letting go and giving myself full permission to enjoy the process is what I refer to as my “shake and take” technique.

Palo Verde

Palo Verde © 2014 Bo Mackison

Lens: Kaimal Mark II
Film: Blanko

Yep. I open the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone and I take a photo.

Then I simply shake my cell phone. The app randomly changes lenses and film and I retake the photograph. I often shake and take a dozen photos of the same subject. Then I look at the photographs.

I’ll get a few duplicates – same lens and film combination – and choose which one I prefer. Otherwise, I simply take what pops up randomly.

I find it fascinating how the different combinations change a simple subject.

Palo Verde

Palo Verde © 2014 Bo Mackison

Lens: Jane
Film: Claunch 72 Monochrome

In this series, I took photos of a palo verde tree while in my car.

I was waiting for a friend and noticed the overhanging branches dangling over the car. I opened the window, aimed towards the sky, took a photo, shook the cell phone, and then repeated. A lot!

Happily, the app records the lens, film, and other data, so when I find a combination I am fond of, I can replicate it with different subjects.

Palo Verde

Palo Verde © 2014 Bo Mackison

Lens: Lucifer VI
Film: Blanko

There’s a lot to be said for a creative process that can change with my mood.

Slow and pensive, quick and experimental, metaphorical or playful. The many moods of the photographer and the resulting photos.

A Photo Stroll in Tubac Arizona

Hanging Fish

Hanging Fish © 2014 Bo Mackison

Sundays are a great day to wander, snap a few shots to capture a place.

Art hangs on so many of the walls in Tubac. The art against the adobe background is striking.

Dry Wash

Dry Wash © 2014 Bo Mackison

A dry wash separates the main part of town. Signs warn to cross only in fair weather. A flash flood following monsoonal rains will fill this wash to overflowing.

Wall Decor

Wall Decor © 2014 Bo Mackison

Moons, cacti, lizards – colorful and happy – decorate the outside walls of many of the shops. One would never run out of display space.

Gyros

Gyros © 2014 Bo Mackison

Happy trucks – the food trucks offer a variety of foods during crowd-pleasing events. Would you enjoy a gyro or a Greek salad from the “Sleek Greek”?

Golden Sculpture, Golden Acacia

Golden Sculpture, Golden Palo Verde © 2014 Bo Mackison

A part of a golden kinetic sculpture gleams against the background of a golden-flowering palo verde.

Shadow Play

Shadow Play © 2014 Bo Mackison

Lines and light and shadow.

WindowLess

WindowLess © 2014 Bo Mackison

What can you see from this window, even though it is blocked with bricks?

Keep Off

Keep Off © 2014 Bo Mackison

In the Midwest, the signs read “Keep Off the Grass.” Not so in Arizona.

Roof Lines

Roof Lines © 2014 Bo Mackison

Blue sky. Yellow roof. Metal awning. Orange rafters. White lights. Open windows.

Sidewalk Shadow

Sidewalk Shadow © 2014 Bo Mackison

Always there are shadows on the pavement, courtesy of the Arizona’s nearly ever-present sun. Tree shadows. My favorites.

Brick Wall and Pavement

Aggregate © 2014 Bo Mackison

Things can sometimes be very simple. A wall. A sidewalk. Lean against the adobe brick, and breathe a while. Rest.

Bench Warmer

Bench Warmer © 2014 Bo Mackison

The bench warmer in bronze. I’d expect to see this esteemed man in a different setting – not in a desert gallery. There is swirling dust about his feet.

These photos were taken with my iPhone using the Hipstamatic app.

One of my favorite parts of this app is its shakability. Shake the cell phone camera and the filter changes, so I’m never sure which filter will appear next. Serendipity photography.

Renewal – A Desert Meditation

Opening

Renewal © 2013 Bo Mackison

“You are sand, wind, sun, and burning sky,
The hottest blue. You blow a breeze and brand
Your breath into my mouth. You reach—then bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.”

~ Benjamin Alire Sáenz, from “To the Desert” in Dark and Perfect Angels

Entangled

A Meditation in the Desert
Entangled © 2013 Bo Mackison

Entangled © 2013 Bo Mackison

The Desert has Many Teachings

In the desert,
Turn toward emptiness,
Fleeing the self.
Stand alone,
Ask no one’s help,
And your being will quiet,
Free from the bondage of things.

Those who cling to the world,
Endeavor to free them;
Those who are free, praise.
Care for the sick,
But live alone,
Happy to drink from the waters of sorrow,
To kindle Love’s fire
With the twigs of a simple life.
Thus you will live in the desert.

– Mechthild of Magdeburg
from The Desert has Many Teachings,
translated by Jane Hirschfield

Reflections from my Journal

In the desert, emptiness is everywhere. It touches me most deeply after the sun sets, when a sliver of moon sets its place, offering direction, but little illumination. Then darkness descends.

The world slows in labored breathing, a pause, preparing for a new day.

To free yourself is to ask for nothing, to find hidden resources and strength developed from living each day authentically. Waiting, until the time is right for the right question, the question is asked, an answer received.

Love’s fire, caught in the crook of a desert branch. Fire-bright in harsh light, precarious, entangled. Lines and curves, shadows and light, a love-story.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is exploring creative photography. poetry, and emotion in a new series featuring desert botanicals.

Cactus, Cactus, Everywhere – Exporing Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Ajo Mountain Scenic Road

Ajo Mountain Scenic Road @ 2011 Bo Mackison

One of the best ways to explore a large portion of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is to do so on the loop road. Not usually my favorite way to see a national park, but in this case, it was certainly an efficient way to see various habitats of the park while taking advantage of the protection and speed of my car. Less wear and tear on my body, and I didn’t get lost once! Of course, it IS a loop…

The 21 mile Ajo Mountain Scenic Road winds from desert floor, ascends through the Ajo Mountain Range, and then returns to the desert floor. The beginning is partly paved, but once it reaches higher elevations and tight passes, the road becomes rocky and bumpy, a bit of an adventure ride. And I have to say, I have seen National Parks and Monuments in the 48 lower states, and I think this 20 mile length of road rivals almost any other road, National Park or not, for its breathtaking beauty. I think it must be in my top five favorites.

Organ Pipe and Palo Verde

Organ Pipe and Palo Verde © 2011 Bo Mackison

The organ pipe cactus is much like it s cousin, the saguaro. Both large cacti grow near a nurse tree, often a palo verde, as shown in this photograph. A bird, while sitting in a tree, makes a deposit under the tree which includes the seeds of cactus. The tree provides protection from the harsh sun, carnivores and water from the nurse tree as it indirectly waters the seedling cactus. If it isn’t eaten, frost-bitten, or scorched to death, it may make it. Cacti have the best chance of making it past the first few years of growth if the weather is milder and wetter than average.

These conditions happen only a few times in a century in the Arizona Uplands where Organ Pipe National Monument is located. That is why there are only a few sizes/ages of cactus in a any given area. The lucky cacti that make it to the height of three feet–40 years worth of growth–are quite resistant to weather extremes and animal damage, and have much lower mortality rates than the younger cacti.

Organ Pipe NM

“Good Housekeeping” Desert © 2011 Bo Mackison

This region of the Sonoran Desert seems much less cluttered than the desert I hiked in a few days ago, the western unit of Saguaro National Park. There everything was a jumble of clutter. Here, it looks like the maids have come through, preparing for an inspection from the “Good Housekeeping” desert spirit.

Organ Pipe Cactus

Organ Pipe Cactus © 2011 Bo Mackison

Organ pipes are easily distinguished from the saguaro, and the other large, but less common cactus, the senita. (No photos of the senita yet, but I’ll keep looking.) Organ pipes have arms that rise from ground level, their stems are often thinner, and they do not sprout projecting arms.

They are uncommon in the United States–found only in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and the adjacent Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation located in south central Arizona. This is the most northern habitat for these plants. They are common in the Sonora, Mexico to the south. At that most southern part of the Sonoran desert, these cacti grow with such density, they appear as a sea of organ pipes. Now that is something I would love to see!

Southern Mountain Side--Cactus Habitat

Southern Mountain Side–Cactus Habitat © 2011 Bo Mackison

Organ pipes are usually found on south facing, rocky mountain sides. In Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the south exposures are one of the warmest micro-habitats in the United States. The cacti typically grow about 10 feet high, though occasionally they can be seen twice that height. Their flowers are white, and bloom at night from April through August. They open in the dark and close shortly after sunrise. That would be something to see, too.

In the photograph above, the organ pipes are joined by the fuzzy Teddy Bear Cholla, a few palo verde trees, and creosote bushes.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is living in Tucson for two months, exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo.”  She is finding the desert habitat more and more to her liking. She is also finding that a solitary life comes with unexpected gifts, too.