V IS FOR VISION.

Photographers have vision, even if it’s partly obscured by fog on the lake.

W IS FOR WANDERING.

Photographers are prone to wander, near and far, in urban areas and in rural areas.

X IS FOR eXPERIMENT.

Photographers are prone to experiments. Maybe it’s an iPhone app through a windshield while riding in a car going 65 mph.

Maybe it’s experimenting with different types of paper – metallic, pearl, heavy rag, canvas. And experimenting with digital manipulations for hours and hours and hours.

Y IS FOR YARD SALES.

Photographers take photos of almost anything. Even a pile of colored jugs with interesting shadows can make a great photographic subject.

Z IS FOR ZENITH.

And photographers take photographs whenever they can. Every day. Photographers point their cameras and aim for the moon. Or the cotton candy clouds. Or the stars.

And to quote  David Alan Harvey, “A photographer doesn’t shoot what it looks like. A photographer shoots what it feels like.”

The end!

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Today’s post has been brought to you by the letters V, W, X, Y and Z.

And yesterday’s post was brought to you by R, S, T and U.

Thank you for tuning in!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is thankful that there are only 26 letters in the alphabet.

 

 

R IS FOR REFLECTING ON RUINS.

I am re-posting these reflections I wrote during my last visit to Tumacacori National Historic Park, ruins of a mission once housing Spanish priests and the Tohono O’Odham they converted to Catholicism and taught the ways of ‘modern’ man. I sat in the garden for several hours, reflecting on the stories I had heard from the park rangers, and the voices that I seemed to hear. Here is a slightly revised version.

Cover your ears with your determination, seek the sacred in this scarred space.
Block the sounds of horns honking, ignore the heated words of the couple standing near the mesquite.

Shhh.

Can you hear rustling leaves, whistling wind? See the shimmer of cotttonwoods?

These winds were in this garden. The trees now camouflaging the sparrows’ nests, they were here.
The fountain — pulsing garden heart — it was here with its cleansing waters.
The dust blowing from the Tumacácori Mountain Range – that dust was here.

Those mountains? They stood in silence and watched.
Arched doorways sheltered the walkway, courtyard sheltered a painted statue of the Virgin with her Babe. They watched.

The yucca were here, the tepary beans trailed along the earth.
The nut tree saplings, freshly planted, they swayed in rhythm with the winds. They witnessed.

The che-che-cheee of the sparrows joined the voices raised in song –  of protest and praise, with humiliation and elation, in mourning and in gratitude.

I hear their voices, the choir lifting their voices in song.
Harmonizing
Chanting
The rising alleluias, the longing amens.

Their voices. Do you hear them?
Che-che-cheee-ing alleluias.
Siss-siss-siss, leaves dancing, twirling along the dusty path.

Hearts dancing, hold your gaze on the star hunter, poised, aiming his arrow at the full moon.
Hidden voices in the whistling winds.
Hidden eyes, watching from Tumacácori.

Listen. Watch. Hush.

S IS FOR SEEDS AND THE SEEDED EARTH.

I love seeds, seed pods, seed heads, dried seeds.

I began taking macro-photographs of the many autumn seeds in a nearby prairie in early October, 2007, and really took my first prolonged look at a few of the millions of seeds covering the earth. At the time I thought of how the earth was a “seeded earth”.

“Simplicity is the core of wabi-sabi. Nothingness is the ultimate. But before and after nothingness, simplicity is not so simple.” Leonard Koren

Seeds and seed heads are two of my favorites to photograph. Seed heads are an example of the concept of wabi-sabi which focuses on the essence pared down, but not stripped of its poetry and emotional warmth. remains intact.

Wabi-sabi compels one to look at something, and then look again and again.

In autumn I always include a photo session with a milkweed pod in my “to shoot” list. Milkweed seeds are closely associated with my business name, Seeded Earth Studio.

When I choose the name for my first blog, a writing and photo sanctuary where I planned to feature a daily photograph of nature, the name “Seeded Earth Photography” came to mind.

When I began my business at the end of 2009, it was natural to name my fledgling company Seeded Earth Studio.

T IS FOR TANGLED.

There are days when this photograph accurately describes how I feel. All tangled in a pile of to-do lists and responsibilities and demands and deadlines. When that happens, I make an effort to get out of the studio, if only for an hour, and take photos. Occasionally, I look for photographs that symbolize how I feel.

This was definitely taken on an “all tangled up in details” day.

U IS FOR URBAN ART.

This may not be what many people think of when asked what urban art is, but I love to look for the artistic designs that I see when I am exploring and photographing the architectural works of Frank Lloyd Wright and his contemporaries. I love this red wrought iron fence, love its simplicity, love how it is combined with the plantings to make an artistic statement.

It isn’t hard to find artistic touches on these Prairie Style homes. Windows are art glass. Planters, moldings, lighting, even the concrete edges of the eaves decorated with layered geometrics, are examples of urban art. I think it is one of the reasons I get so much pleasure from photographing architecture. It is the almost unseen details that I love to capture.

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Today’s post has been brought to you by the letters R, S, T and U.

Tomorrow’s post will be brought to you by V, W, X, Y and Z.

And yesterday’s post was brought to you by N, O, P and Q.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. The alphabet series will end with tomorrow’s post.

 

 

E IS FOR EMERGING.

Anaïs Nin’s quotation — “…the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom” — seems to apply to some of the challenges that I’ve overcome this year. Years ago, after a series of losses, I found it safer, less painful to curl tightly into myself and hide rather than face the beauties in life coupled with the possibility of yet more loss.

Eventually the ‘too quietness’ in my head and the loneliness in my heart became to difficult to bear, and so I, with great hesitation, opened my eyes and looked around. It seemed safe enough. I uncurled. Stretched. And made the decision to begin connecting with people again, no matter how uneasy I was with this change.

How wonderful to rediscover that the world is a bright, beautiful place. That there are beautiful, loving people in it. And that even if you cannot see the sun, it is always shining somewhere.

F IS FOR FAMILY.

Family. I am truly grateful for my sensitive, supportive, and loving family. What a gift – the love of those nearest and dearest to my heart. Sherpa. My children and their partners. My extended family. I send my love to all.

G IS FOR GARDEN GATE.

Ah, offer me an afternoon of solitude and time to commune with nature –  in a deep thinking space where I can journal and photograph – and lead me to the gate of a yet to be discovered garden. As perfect a recipe for heaven on earth as I can imagine.

The garden doesn’t have to be the typical garden, either – though garden paths and courtyards and tended flowers are indeed lovely. I also find delight in overgrown gardens and in natural gardens. To me a space with any type of living plants is garden-like enough, be it mountain peak, desert floor, a prairie rise, a deep woods path.

When I spend time in a garden – any kind of garden – I feel revived.

H IS FOR HUMOR.

You say you’ve never seen a turquoise cow, painted with dandelion flowers and grazing in the grass? Well, now you have.

And you’ve never seen her purple sister cow? Well, now you have. Are you smiling? I am.

Because I can never look at these wonderful sculptures without breaking out in a huge grin. They make me smile, they lighten my heart.

There is humor all around us. I am learning to look for the humor in life and in life situations. I am learning to laugh. What a glorious feeling – the moments when a smile breaks into laughter which turns into unstoppable glee. Those moments when laughter is contagious, when the laughter just won’t stop. What treasured times those are.

I IS FOR INTERIOR.

I’ve been thinking about interiors lately. Interiors of buildings, yes, for I do love the lines of good architecture, but more important to me are the interiors of people as a whole, the insides of the society we live in, the inner workings of human brains, and who I am on the inside. There is a much inside work to be done.

If the foundation is not sturdy and well-built, the structure will not be functional and safe.

J IS FOR JOURNAL TIME.

No matter where I go, I carry a short pencil and a small notebook — about 3″ by 4″ — in my back pocket. And it is almost impossible for me to sit and enjoy some quiet time without taking out that notebook and writing down a thought or two. Often the notes are reminders of things to do, or things I want to look up. Once in a while I capture an Aha! moment and I record it for remembering.

Any seat will do, and if there’s a table and a cup of coffee to go with my journal time, so much the better. Journaling has been a part of my life since I was in my early twenties. In the midst of chaotic times, happy times, quiet times, and times when time stood still, I have always kept a notebook and pen nearby.

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Today’s post has been brought to you by the letters E, F, G, H, I and J.

Tomorrow’s post will be brought to you by the letters K, L, and M.

And yesterday’s post was brought to you by A, B, C and D.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Blog posts are brought to you by letters of the alphabet — what would we do without alphabet letters! — through January 3rd.