Art of Healing – Page 16

5th Annual Photo Alphabet – Part V

December 30, 2012 by Bo Mackison 9 Comments

R is for Ritual and Routine.

I have an unusual ritual in the Sonoran Desert. Some might think of it more as a routine – brewing the early morning coffee – but when I brew my first cup of coffee after a night of desert camping, it truly is elevated to the level of ritual.

The assembly of the tiny backpacker stove. The measuring of water from my water supply. The finding of the matches — which usually provides a modicum of panic. The boiling of the water. The measuring of the coffee grounds, safely stored in the bottom of my coffee cup/coffee press. The boiling water poured into the coffee press, the cup tightly closed, plunging the press, waiting the ten minutes for the coffee to brew. And finally sipping that first early morning coffee.

If any one is wondering why I might need coffee while camping in the desert, keep in mind early morning in the winter desert is usually 30˚ to 40˚F, often even colder. That first cup of coffee is like a bit of heaven. Routine, yes. And ritual.

S is for Shadows and Self-portrait.

I have a fascination with taking photos of shadows. They might be photos of leaf shadows on a wall, a repetitive fence shadow on a sidewalk, an intricate wrought iron table and chairs casting an abstract shadow on a patio. I constantly look for shadows to photograph.

And sometimes I photograph self-portrait shadows.

I like these self portraits in shadow. Sometimes I am long and stretched out, as in the above photo taken late in the day. Sometimes there is just a head shot, my hat on my head, protection from the desert sun, hiking stick leaning against me, as I balance and set up the shot.

I always have my camera up to my face. I may be alone or with a companion. I like to study these portrait shadows.

They tell me a bit about the photographer I was at that moment in time. By the clues in the photos I can decipher where I was, who I was with, the time of the year or the time of the day. I may even be able to tell my mood by the way I carry my body. I may remember a conversation I had with a person in passing or a particular event that happened that day.

Another way I capture bits of my life as reminders. Like words on a page of a diary or journal, a photo holds that space for me.

T is for Thresholds and Transitions.

Transitions. I think that very word, and a lump forms in my throat, an ache develops in my chest. No matter what type of transition I face, it takes me awhile to focus and gather my equilibrium before I carry on. The transition can be one I dread or one I look forward to — no matter. The very act of crossing a new threshold, or a threshold I am re-crossing, causes me to stop in my tracks.

I’ve discovered that I can approach transitions in different ways. And that is okay!

I may choose to move towards a threshold, decide I am not quite prepared.. OK. I can sit down — that bench is handy — and pause while I consider my next step.

Maybe I approach the threshold and find I need more time to study the new, do a bit more research or soul-searching. Maybe a look through a window, visualizing the next step is helpful. OK.

Or maybe I am ready. I have considered my options, I know that the next step needs to be taken, or I am simply ready. OK. I open the door and walk through, across the threshold.

This photo is a pretty good summary of me working my way through life, whatever it takes at that moment. Approaching transitions in different ways.

U is for the Universe.

The Universe — worlds upon world upon worlds. Bright and shiny — new places to explore.

In each shiny ball representing part of the universe, there is a tiny self-portrait of me, both looking in and looking out.

V is for Vision.

I like this photo – the one I call Double Vision – because the branch in the foreground still has berries and a leaf hanging on it, the branch slightly behind it is bare. It’s a double branch. But there is more. Look into the background, extend my vision deeper into the landscape and I notice the snow-covered river – the river a conduit for travel.

Will it be an easy trip, perhaps on a flowing river in the early summer on a small skiff with a companion? Or will the trip take place during a drought, the water is low, my boat keep getting snagged. I must keep getting into the water to dislodge it, push it along, even portage it? Perhaps the journey is a cold, lonely trek in the winter, traveling alone on skates or ice cleats, or along the side of the frozen river, pushing through the deep snow?

I look at this photograph and I see the past captured — dried fruits and leaves. And it foretells possible vignettes of the future in metaphor — travel on the river. But all the while, it capturing a moment in the present.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. The 5th Annual Photo Alphabet ends with Wonder thru Zen!

Filed Under: Art of Healing, Photography, Travel Tagged With: Arizona, art, autumn, benches, black and white photography, Bo Mackison photographer, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, coffee in the desert, Door County, doors, Madison, Madison Wisconsin, National Parks, nature, Photography, ritual, routines, Seeded Earth Photography, self-portraits, shadows, Southwest, Strickers Pond, thresholds, transitions, Travel, Tubac Arizona, Tucson Arizona, Universe, vision, windows, winter landscape, Wisconsin

5th Annual Photo Alphabet – Part IV

December 29, 2012 by Bo Mackison 10 Comments

N is for Nature and Non-attachment

Even though I photograph almost any subject, I spend as much time as I can in the natural world and take a greater percentage of nature subjects than any other. I also like to play with nature photos, especially macro-photographs such as the above barrel cactus. I loved the symmetry emphasized with a black and white conversion.

Not only do I love to photograph desert plants, I love learning about them. I find their various ways of adapting to their environment fascinating. In order to survive, they have an extensive system of spiny protrusions and other such things to dissuade potential munchers.

I’ve been working on the idea of non-attachment – the idea that too much attachment for a specific outcome can cause difficulties. And I was thinking that the cactus is the perfect symbol for non-attachment. Oh, yeah!

O is for Observation and Opportunity.

These “O” words speak deeply to me about photography – my photography and photography in general.

Observation is so key to photography that it is almost too obvious to include in an alphabet like this. Observational skills are honed in the search for a photograph. That is not to say that a camera to required to polish observational skills, but a camera becomes a constant reminder to look around, to see beyond the initial glance. I consider my camera a great prop, an observation kick-starter.

Opportunity is another one of those obvious words that partner well with photography. Some people take photographs at special occasions (or opportunities) – a vacation, a holiday, an annual gathering, a perfect sunset. But opportunity is more about “being” there for the experience of the photograph rather than “finding” a photographic subject.

Any subject is a subject worthy of photographic exercise. I’ve photographed more walls than I would once have thought possible, or sane. Yes, walls. Wall with shadows, walls with texture, walls with vines, walls of adobe, brick, stone, historical walls in ruins. (Maybe I should copy and paste this under “W”!)

I’ve also taken thousands of photographs of trees. Recently I realized that there is some form of tree – perhaps a branch, a shadow, a leaf – in a large percentage of my photos. I didn’t start with the intent to photograph trees in such depth, but it seems the trees found me. Or perhaps I’ve never met a tree I didn’t like, one I didn’t think worthy of a tree portrait.

I’m not saying that I don’t take advantage of a photographic opportunity that comes my way. I carry a camera almost all the time – whether I’m going across country, across the city, or across the parking lot. You don’t have to wait for a special opportunity for a photograph; opportunity will find you if you’re paying attention.

P is for Perspective and Place.

And then there is the perspective of a lonely, open road at dusk. This is a photograph of a Texas panhandle highway. Telephone poles, grain elevators, semi-trucks, and a Texas Highway sign. It’s all about place. And perspective.

Q is for Questions and Quotations.

I sometimes take photographs to find the answers to questions I am pondering. Sometimes I take photographs to put the questions I don’t know how to ask into a concrete form. And sometimes I take photographs because I have questions that don’t have answers.

When I begin to write a blog post, and I have a photograph I want to share, I sometimes don’t have the words to accompany the photo. There is a meaning in the photo, but it’s not easily seen. So I go searching through my many dozens of unorganized journals for a relevant quotation. It seldom takes me more than a few minutes to find a quote that says exactly what I was struggling to say.

Here is one such photograph, and the quote I found to pair it with:

There are hundreds of paths up the mountain,
all leading in the same direction,
so it doesn’t matter which path you take.
The only one wasting time is the one
who runs around and around the mountain,
telling everyone that his or her path is wrong.

~ Hindu teaching

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Part V of the Annual Photo Alphabet continues with Rituals thru Universe.

Filed Under: Art of Healing, Photography, Travel Tagged With: annual photography alphabet, Arizona, badlands, black and white photograph, Bo Mackison photographer, botanicals, Buttermilk Falls, cactus, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, deck, Delaware Water Gap, grain elevators, iPhonography, macro-photograph, macro-photography, National Park, National Parks, nature, New Jersey, New York City, non-attachment, observation, opportunity, passages, perspective, photographing trees, photographing walls, Photography, place, quest, questioning, quotations, Seeded Earth Photography, Southwest, spines, sunset, Texas, trail, Travel, waterfall

5th Annual Photo Alphabet – Part III

December 28, 2012 by Bo Mackison 10 Comments

I is for iPhonography and Imagination

In just a few short years, taking photographs with a cell phone has become its own niche. iPhonography with a multitude of apps for in camera processing and post processing, can do amazing things. Photographs I never dreamed of creating can be created in just seconds. My imagination goes a bit wild when I start playing with my iPhone’s capabilities. I am less hesitant to explore and more open to the weird and unusual.

For me personally, iPhones and other smart phone cameras do not take the place of my more traditional camera gear. But my cell phone camera sure has one advantage that most other cameras do not have. It is always with me.

And the best camera in the world is the one that is with you when you want to take a photograph.

J is for Joy and Journal Writing

At first glance, you might wonder what this photograph of a grain elevator taken on the wide open plains of middle America has to do with Joy and Journal Writing. But it is a real life example of the Joy I find from my daily practice of photography and journal writing.

The photo is a snippet from my travel log I wrote as I traveled across the United States. This grain elevator is in the tiny town of Joy, Kansas. That may be important or it may not be. But it is a part of my life, a part that I took time to document. I don’t write down everything nor do I take photos of most places. But I document enough about the daily bits of my day-to-day activities.

Here’s why this brings me such Joy. When I return to the notations in my journal, re-read a passage, look through the sketches I crudely drew in the margins, find a ticket stub or a pamphlet describing a sightseeing treat, I instantly re-create memories of that time in my life. They may seem trivial, but they are moments I have lived.

And I love being able to open a journal or a set of photographs and get transported back in time. So much is so easily forgotten. The things I often read about I would never remember without these memory jogs. They may be important only to me, but that is enough. More than enough.

K is for Knowledge and Keys.

I once lived for a while in a place where there were locks, but no keys.

I spent many hours of ‘most every day holed up in a corner of a library, in a room of a thousands books, but it offered none of the knowledge I sought.

Then I went out into the world, far away from what was safe, comfortable, known.

And there I found myself – uncertain yet hopeful, silent yet filled with song. And the sun warmed me and I walked the earth and I gave thanks.

L is for Labyrinth.

Have you ever walked a labyrinth? The kind where, once you begin, you follow along, around and back, and come to the center, where you can stand awhile or continue on and finally you come out at the end which is next to the beginning, and there is no way, when you follow the lines, that you can do it wrong or get lost or bump into some one else.

There is a pace and that pace has a peace. Not at all like real life, though to me it feels exactly like real life.

M is for Meditating, Mindfulness, and the Muse.

I love this photograph. I took it while I was walking along a park in New york City, a park resurrected from an abandoned railway corridor called the High Line. Usually the park is crowded with people – walking, enjoying the art installations or sampling the food from vendors. Maybe watching a dance troupe or dancing to a jazz trio. But early on this cool June morning, with threats of rain in the forecast, the park was nearly deserted.

It was the perfect place to sit for a while, absorb the beauty of the natural plants growing amidst the tracks and seating spaces. I wasn’t the only person in the park who was doing some slow work while the city bustled around us.

Meditation, even for twenty minutes or a half hour, has become a daily part of my morning. It sets my internal thermostat at an even temperature, and helps me prepare for the rest of the day. Doing meditation coupled with a mindfulness practice during the day not only slows me down so I can get my work done, it also makes room for my muse to visit with amazing frequency.

Less pressure, more ideas, more creative energy.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Part IV of the 5th Annual Photo Alphabet continues with Nature thru Quest.

Filed Under: Art of Healing, Photography, Travel Tagged With: "Lock and Key", Allen Centennial Garden, annual alphabet, Architecture, Arizona, benches, Bo Mackison photographer, buildings, Chelsea Neighborhood, Gardens, gate, grain elevators, High Line Park, iPhonography, journal writing, joy, Joy Kansas, Kansas, labyrinth, Madison, Madison Wisconsin, Manhattan, meditation, New York, New York City, Seeded Earth Photography, skyscrapers, Southwest, Wisconsin

5th Annual Photo Alphabet – Part II

December 27, 2012 by Bo Mackison 12 Comments

E is for Enchantment and Energy.

I find I am often enchanted by the things I see in the natural world. It can be as wondrous and rare as this Yellowstone National Park’s turquoise hot springs pool or as ordinary as the pattern of bark on a backyard tree, as uplifting as a hovering hummingbird sipping nectar from a garden flower or as down-to-earth as the cracked mud along the edge of a pond during a drought.

Having a camera available encourages me to look more closely at patterns, details, the ordinary and the extra-ordinary, but now I add time for simply being in my surroundings when my schedule is open. I find an earthy spot, get comfortable, and spend time in/with the natural world.

Motionless and close the earth, I gain a tremendous amount of energy by taking the time to be still.

F is for Focus and Framework.

Focus is basic. When I take a photograph and I want it to resemble what I imagine, I pay close attention to the focus. Do I focus on only a part of the photograph or do I set the depth of field so that the entire photo is in focus? Do I need a sharp focus or a soft focus?

Focus is also one of the basics I consider when I am working on a goal, or choosing a plan of action. It helps me set a framework in which to work. It is impossible to know the body of knowledge on any subject, or at least it is for me. I am not a specialist, but a generalist. So I focus on learning a bit about many things and I don’t limit myself to a specific photographic genre or technique, to a certain style of camera or software.

I would rather explore, learn as I practice, and shoot whatever captures my interest. There is always more to learn. I will never want for a photographic subject to study or a new technique to practice.

G is for Gratitude and Gardens.

A popular phrase, one that’s even been adapted by mainstream advertising, is “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.” I have always liked the idea behind the words – life is a journey, one that follows a long road, perhaps, winding and twisting, through cities and through deserts, scaling steep mountainsides and wandering through woodlands, walking alone, running with a crowd, even standing on the side, unable to take another step without rest or support.

Recently I read another quote about the journey, one that I also identified with. Perhaps because I spend much time in gardens of all sorts, perhaps, because I concentrate on the noticing more than the going, it is a good fit.

life is a garden,
not a road

we enter and exit
through the same gate

wandering,
where we go matters less
than what we notice.

~ Bokonon

H is for History and Healing.

While I enjoy visiting sites steeped in history and reading about ancient cultures and traditions, I have learned that studying ancient cultures is one thing, but living in the past is an altogether different thing.

I can’t go back again. I can’t change what has already happened. The best I can do is learn from past mistakes, make a strong intention to not repeat those mistakes, and then live in the moment.

Healing comes, not from replaying old wounds and old stories or reliving one’s errors in judgement. Healing happens by working intently to learn from one’s mistakes and beginning each day with a fresh start, a day to be lived deeply and relished.

Part III of the 5th Annual Photo Alphabet continues with iPhonography thru Muse.

Filed Under: Art of Healing, Photography, Travel Tagged With: Arizona, benches, Bo Mackison photographer, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, color, doorway, Emerald Pool, enchantment, energy, focus, framework, gadren, gardens, healing, history, macro-photography, Madison, Madison Wisconsin, National Parks, National Register of Historic Places, Olbrich Botanical Gardens, portal, pottery, Seeded Earth Photography, Southwest, Wisconsin, Yellowstone National Park

5th Annual Photo Alphabet – Part I

December 26, 2012 by Bo Mackison 16 Comments

In honor of the ending of the year 2012, I begin my annual alphabet today and finish it on New Year’s Eve – in six parts.

I did my very first alphabet in 2008 – it had a Wisconsin theme with rhymes. (Wow, like Dr Seuss!) I posted the 2009 Alphabet the second week in January, including a pseudo-Arctic photograph! In 2010, there was another series – each alphabet letter was represented with a photo and musings. Last year’s version, the 2011 Photo Alphabet, began with this set of photographs. and had more photos than words. And now, the end of 2012 approaches.

Presenting…

BO’S 2012 PHOTO ALPHABET

A is for Abstracts, Authenticity, and Art.

I love abstracts, especially macro-photographs of botanicals. And I love to play with them. For those of you who know your plants, and specifically your aloe plants, you’ll recognize this as an upside down aloe in flower. I pulled out most of its orange color, and the result was an aloe of many colors.

When I do the art festivals in the summer, people ask me lots of questions about my photographs. One of the more common questions is “Did it REALLY look this, or did you Photoshop it?” I usually explain that the flower in the garden never did look exactly like the photograph and that I used post processing software (usually Adobe Lightroom or Nik Color Efex Pro 4) to make the flower look the way I saw it in my imagination.

Much of the time, I choose to be authentic to the vision I see instead of the actual flower, and so most of the botanical photographs I show in art fairs and museum exhibits are one part garden flower and one part Bo’s imagination.

B is for Blurring, Balance, and Being.

I work as a photographer. I also play as a photographer. Some of the time my photography is more work than play, most often when I am doing freelance work and the job requires me to meet the client’s expectations. There’s a time for photo work. But for me, my time spent in photo play is just as important. It’s a balancing act. Work and deadlines balanced by camera exploring and freedom to be me.

One of my favorite play activities with my camera is using deliberate motion blur to create another type of abstract. I did a series of motion blurs with trees — some became swirls of color, but a few retained just enough of the subject. The result? A maple tree with a distinct brown trunk whose yellow leaves form wispy leaf tendrils.

C is for Color, Circles, and Community

Doughnut Plant's Doughnut Bench, Lower East Side, NYC

One of the most important components in a photograph is color. Sometimes color draws you to a focal point, sometimes the colors complement each other and add significant interest, an eye-catching appeal, to the photograph.

I photographed this colorful bench in the Doughnut Factory, a bakery on the Lower East Side in NYC, where most of the available surfaces are painted with bright colorful circles (doughnuts!) I took note that there were a few square donuts, too – was that a nod to design or diversity, I wondered? There was a line of neighbors waiting for seats – as one group left another sat down, squeezed in, re-arranged, added or subtracted chairs, called to friends and neighbors, began conversations with those of us “just visiting.”

C is also for community. Meeting with fellow photographers and shooting photos together, critiquing photos, sharing information – that is a one of the special perks of being a photographer. And also there are communities not directly associated with photography, but ones that I join because they are photo-related. Walking tours that provide photo ops while learning the cultural history of the area. Botanical groups that share a love of all things nature. Book-making and artist groups that offer opportunities for me to learn how to create art books with my photos.

D is for Details, Darkness, and Dreams.

There are photographs I take for the details. The above photo has a bit of unbroken glass still in its place in the door frame. In its reflection is a blue sky and the bare tree limbs of late autumn. There is debris surrounding that small piece of window – an abandoned car in a deteriorating garage, fallen pipes, dark shadows. But the window holds a dream, a vision of the unending sky, a tiny piece of the Universe.

Photographs sometimes offer me a message within the medium. Looking at a photograph is sometimes similar to decoding a dream. I look at this photo and understand its message — when darkness creeps in, and surrounds me, when my world appears to be falling down around me, there is always a shard of blue sky if I am open to new discoveries. Perhaps there is a new threshold to cross, a new path to follow.

Amazing thing, photography!

Part II of the 5th Annual Photo Alphabet continues with Enchantment thru Healing.

Filed Under: Art of Healing, Photography, Travel Tagged With: abstracts, aloe, alphabet, Arizona, art, authenticity, balance, being, botanicals, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, circles, color, community, darkness, deliberate motion blur, details, Doughnut Factory, dreams, macro-photography, Madison, maple tree, New York City, NYC, Photography, Wisconsin