Sparkling Lake

Sparkling Devil's Lake

Sparkling Devil’s Lake © 2011 Bo Mackison

A lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth’s eye, looking into that by which the beholder measures the depths of his own nature.  ~ Henry David Thoreau

There are days where the clouds block the sun and the world takes on a somber mood. When the day is gray, it’s a good time to recall the brightness of the sunlight, shimmering on the lake. Sparkly bright, so bright I had to shade my eyes with my hand. I mostly photograph away from the direct light of the sun, but sometimes I like to capture the effects of the sunlight, especially when it dances on the waves.

I’ll hold tight these memories. Clouds may hide the sun, but nothing can take away that bit of sunshine I hold in my mind’s eye.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer, owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Bo loves the warmth and brightness of the sun; she is learning (slowly) to also love the gray clouds and cold winds of late autumn.

Frosted Leaf

Frosty Maple Leaf

Frosty Maple Leaf © 2011 Bo Mackison

We do not remember days, we remember moments. – Cesare Pavese

Maybe this is a good time to post another frosty photograph. I checked the weather forecast for later today and saw a four letter word — snow. So, before the snow flies and my outdoor world becomes white, I’ll share one of my more colorful autumn macro photographs.

When this maple leaf fell from the tree, it became wedged on its side in the grass. The frost added an outline of lacy white ice to the orange-red leaf.

I love how the maple leaf’s familiar outline is highlighted, how the simplest things in nature — a fallen leaf, a touch of frost — turn into a captured moment of beauty, of life.

And how the photograph also captures a moment of time, and I watch as autumn turns her face towards winter.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer, owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She also loves the very first snowfall of the season when her whole world looks freshly dressed in pure white.

Hard Frost

Hard Frost

Hard Frost © 2011 Bo Mackison

Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.  ~ Henry David Thoreau

This morning it was middle-of-the-night dark when I started my day at 6:00 am. I had plenty of time to get ready for the day, make coffee, meditate, and as I finished, I noticed that the eastern sky was getting a faint glow. Gradually just a hint of pink appeared, growing lighter.

I checked the thermometer — 25˚ F. Cold enough for a heavy frost. When there was enough light to see outside, yes indeed, there was a very heavy frost. I waited until the sun peeked over the houses to the east of my backyard before I grabbed my camera and went out to see what I could see.

And what did I see? Frost, lots of frost. Fallen leaves covered with tiny crystals. The garden still had a few flowers, the last ones of the season, covered with a delicate icy coating.

I took enough photographs of frost and leaves for half the photographers in Madison, and then I played in the leaves for a while. No, I didn’t roll in the leaves or jump in a pile of leaves as I did when I was a child. But I did have lots of enthusiasm as I kicked through the deep maple leaves, then watched to see how high they flew. Who knew that kicking piles of leaves was such good aerobic exercise, too!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer, owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo thinks everyone in the northern climes should do leaf kicking as an exercise for the next few weeks. So fun!

Salmo Pond in November

Salmo Pond

Salmo Pond © 2011 Bo Mackison

Observe always that everything is the result of change, and get used to thinking that there is nothing Nature loves so well as to change existing forms and make new ones like them.  ~ Marcus Aurelius

November – the month when the brilliant colors of October change to muted hues of yellows, greens, browns. Tree skeletons appear. Grasses that waved tall and proud are now brittle and bent to the ground. There are days when the sky is blue and sunshine gives nature a soft glow, but these days are outnumbered by cloudy gray days, days of rain and wind.

November is all about change. This is the time of year that offers us lessons in acceptance — offers us glimpses of nothingness, provides  us with daily reminders that nothing stays the same, and challenges us to practice the art of learning how to say goodbye.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer, owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  It is November, perhaps the most contemplative month of the year.

Golden Portal

Golden Portal

Golden Portal ©2011 Bo Mackison

Eventually I discovered for myself the utterly simple prescription for creativity: be intensely yourself.
Don’t try to be outstanding; don’t try to be a success; don’t try to do pictures for others to look at — just please yourself.
~ Ralph Steiner

I live opposites.

I am a nester by nature, satisfied with quiet days strung one after another. I savor the nurturing space my family and I have created in our home. I like natural rhythms, routine.

But I am also a wanderer, and explorer. I yearn for travel, new places to see, absorb. I look forward to times when I can embark on adventures, near and far. Peek through an unseen space and discover gold.

This is my goal: to carry my home within me, and so be at home wherever I am.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer, owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.