Pelicans on the Mississippi River

July 23, 2012 by 5 Comments
American White Pelicans on the Upper Mississippi

American White Pelicans on the Mississippi River © 2012 Bo Mackison

 The soul has illusions as the bird has wings: it is supported by them. ~ Victor Hugo

This is the first year I have ever seen lotus flowers bloom across half the Mississippi River (in early July near Stoddard Wisconsin) and this past weekend I saw hundreds of American white pelicans brood in a protected area of the Mississippi near the Savanna, Illinois/Sabula, Iowa bridge. Amazing.

I have lived within a hundred miles of the Mississippi River most of my life. I have traveled the river roads from Dubuque, Iowa to St. Louis. Missouri hundreds of times. I’ve walked along the banks in dozens of Mississippi River towns, some only a few blocks in width, wedged on the available land between the river’s edge and the vertical bluffs. A  few of the larger cities crept up those limestone bluffs and then sprawled along the prairie lands – Dubuque, Minneapolis, Keokuk, Quincy, St. Louis are just a few I know well, the ones I have visited since childhood.

I’ve explored the Mississippi at its start in Minnesota, the beginnings of the river only a few steps wide. I’ve explored the Mississippi in Louisiana, boating through the bayous, walking along the Gulf Coast. My family and I took a cruise that left from New Orleans, heading to the Caribbean, and we rocked and rolled through the Mississippi Delta in the dark. Occasionally we’d see lighted platforms from the oil rigs, truly out in the middle of nowhere. Sitting at our dinner table on the cruise, we were mesmerized by the controlled sloshing of our drinks in the clear crystal glasses. The ship would tip towards the starboard, then tip towards the port, like a baby’s cradle, as it followed the channel. A bit disconcerting on our first evening on board. Our waiter told us they were trained to fill the glasses to different levels, dependent on how rough the river was running.

The Mississippi River is the longest river that begins and ends in the United States, if you consider the outpouring of her waters into the Mississippi Delta as part of the country. I never quite realized how attached I was to this river until I began exploring more of the river and the roads and towns that are near her shores.

Love this river in her many forms!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. This summer, she is taking weekend trips up and down the mighty Mississippi and documenting her short road trips with camera and pen.

 

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Sunday Series – A Walk Through Monet’s Garden

July 15, 2012 by 8 Comments
Monet's Bridge at NYBG Exhibit

Monet’s Bridge © 2012 Bo Mackison

I cultivate my garden, and my garden cultivates me.  ~Robert Brault

Conservatory Flowers at NYBG

Monet’s Flower Garden © 2012 Bo Mackison

In my garden there is a large place for sentiment.  My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams.  The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful.  ~Abram L. Urban

Monet's Garden at NYBG

Monet’s Garden in Orange © 2012 Bo Mackison

How fair is a garden amid the trials and passions of existence.  ~Benjamin Disraeli

Monet's Garden at NYBG

Bright Flowers in Monet’s Garden © 2012 Bo Mackison

In the garden I tend to drop my thoughts here and there.  To the flowers I whisper the secrets I keep and the hopes I breathe.  I know they are there to eavesdrop for the angels.  ~Dodinsky

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  On Sundays, Bo shares a series of photographs and quotes she finds meaningful.  Sunday is a good days to enjoy a few of the colorful flower photographs I photographed earlier this summer at the New York Botanical Garden at the Monet’s Garden Exhibit.

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Abandoned, Like an Empty House

July 14, 2012 by 4 Comments
Abandoned

Abandoned © 2012 Bo Mackison

Someone, and no matter who, inhabits my head like it’s an empty house, he enters, he leaves, he bangs each door behind him, powerless I put up with this ruckus.
Someone, and maybe it’s me, palms my most private thoughts, he crumples them, returns them to dust.
Someone, and it’s much later now, slowly walks across the room and, not seeing me, stops to contemplate the havoc.
Someone, and no matter where, collects the pieces of my shadow.
~ Claude Estaban, translated from the French by Joanie Mackowski

I am not in a minority when it comes to photographers, and perhaps other 2D artists as well, who have an affinity and passion for capturing doors as the main subject in some of their art. Doors are a popular subject, their metaphorical power captures our imagination and sense of discovery, too.

“What is behind that door? Why was it abandoned? Is it locked?” So many questions starts the imagination engines churning in the mind.

And the symbolism. I think in almost every culture, there is meaning in doors. As a transition, as a passage, entering from light into dark, or the opposite, leaving by way of a door, and entering into light from a dark interior. The bride once was carried across the threshold of her new home by her new husband. There are doors guarded by fierce creatures – temples come to mind, but I have seen many a library graced with twin, growling lions, or even scarier creatures.

I found this door on an abandoned farmstead in eastern Pennsylvania a few years ago. I catalogued and labeled it, but only recently pulled it out for a serious look. I immediately feel in love with the greens and reds, with the combination of the parallel slats and the vertical panels on the door. And I liked the way nature is gradually taking over the man-made structure, and adding to its abandoned feeling. Even in a color-coordinated way!

Do you photograph doors, or notice doors, or use doors in your art? Do you focus on other passages or transition architecture — gates, windows, tunnels, stairs?

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She loves photographing doors, windows, stairways, gates, and other places that lead to other spaces.

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Wisconsin River Sand Bars

July 12, 2012 by 1 Comment
Lake Wisconsin Sand Bars, Driftless Area, Southwest Wisconsin

Wisconsin River Sand Bars © 2012 Bo Mackison

When you put your hand in a flowing stream, you touch the last that has gone before and
the first of what is still to come.”  Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo has a way with words. And I love the visual that comes to me when I read his words. “Put your hand in a flowing stream.” It needs to be a river or a stream, even a creek if there’s been rain. An ocean won’t do. Nor a sea. It needs to be a fast-moving stream, flowing past, the current pushing your hand in the direction of the flow.

Have you ever hung out with a river, maybe sprawled on a boat dock that sticks its edge into the river’s middle, sprawled on your belly, head cradled in one arm, your other arm stretching out, stretching down into the flowing river. Even in a the hot summer, even in the middle of a record-breaking heat scorcher, the river water still runs cool.

Just the thought of submerging my arm into the river makes me feel cooler.

As for the quote, I love this way of saying “stay in the present.” Once the moment has passed, it has passed. And you can’t rush the future – the flowing water will reach you at the very moment of the present, whether you want it to hurry up or slow down.

Hmm, two thoughts to consider from a single quote. Leonardo was one versatile guy!

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The river scene was photographed a few miles before we crossed the Wisconsin River on the bridge at Blue River, Wisconsin when we were on our way to the Mississippi River. I never knew there was a Blue River, Wisconsin. Even sounds like the place to test “your hand in the flowing stream!”

Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is rambling on a bit, just like the rambling river waters…oh, she wants to know if you spotted all the teeny birds on the telephone wires in the photo. They are hard to see in this tiny size, but their antics are amusing and clear in the bigger photographs.


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On the Mississippi

July 10, 2012 by 2 Comments
Barge Docked on the Mississippi

Barge and Tugboat Docked on the Mississippi © 2012 Bo Mackison

While the river of life glides along smoothly, it remains the same river; only the landscape on either bank seems to change. ~ Max Muller

I have traveled along the river roads running next to the Mississippi all of my life.

I was born in a river town in the middle Mississippi River region and I knew no other life except living near the river. My family home was less than a mile from the bluffs overlooking the river, and I spent many hours watching the river traffic. Yes, we watched the river traffic glide up and down the Mississippi for entertainment. (Obviously before the days of hand held electronic entertainment devices!)

Sundays were special occasions if there was fine weather, although rainy weather didn’t always deter us either. Those tugs pushed the barges no matter the weather. Only a frozen river stopped barge traffic. For Sunday-after-church-family-entertainment we would drive to Lock and Dam #21 (now on the National Register of Historic Places!) and watch the boats and barges navigate the locks. There was a small picnic area and for a real treat we would stop at the only fast food place in town, a Sandy’s drive-thru, a small town predecessor to the McDonald’s franchise.

Or I would walk the three blocks from my high school to the Riverside Park and wait for the barges to pass, tug boats maneuvering the long heavy storage containers through the narrow channel. I’d carry my art book and do quick pencil or charcoal sketches, or write in my journal. (Even as a high-schooler, my life revolved around my art and my writing.)

When I thought about the Mississippi River and its significance as a place in my life, I decided to explore more of the river. I have traveled the river extensively from Dubuque, Iowa to St. Louis, Missouri, and I know the Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri river towns quite well.

This past weekend I headed north on the Great River Road on the Upper Mississippi River. I traveled roads on both sides of the river –  in Wisconsin on the east banks and in Iowa and Minnesota on its western shores. There was so much to see and photograph. Sure I’ll be back for many more visits.

The photograph was taken in Winona, Minnesota, near the Minnesota Marine Art Museum. The museum was closed when I was there, but it looks like a fascinating place to visit. Another reason for a return visit.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is vaguely wondering how the Mississippi River as a subject will fit into the Seeded Earth theme.

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