Goals for Tucson – Year 2

May 9, 2012 by 6 Comments
Palo Verde Leaves with Rocks

Palo Verde Yellows with Rocks © 2012 Bo Mackison

Now that I have been in Wisconsin a week, it is time for me to pull out my list I wrote in January that outlined some of the things I wanted to accomplish during my hundred day stay. This list is a good way for me to keep track of the new things I accomplish from year to year, and what better place than on the blog that records so many of my Arizona adventures.

Some goals I achieved, some I did but still need more practice, some goals I didn’t even attempt – but it is good to know how much got done.

And there’s always next year.

The list is rather long and detailed. So feel free to ignore the list and instead enjoy the “yellow snow” that Tucson had when I was packing to leave. (Not yellow snow at all, but the tiny yellow blossoms that had fallen from the Palo Verde trees!)

  • All the Basics “Solo” Redux
  1. Plan menus, cook all meals except occasional (1-2 x’s a week) eat out. — This year go more nutritious, and explore the world of the vegetarian eater/low carbs.
  2. Take care of my living space. — Living in a small condo makes keeping order a necessity, not an option.
  3. Drive wherever I need to go — Last year I managed to tool around the Tucson area, but Phoenix threw me in a driving tizzy, and I admit to Interstate Avoidance as often as practical. I hope to drive to Phoenix this year, and use direct routes more often.
  4. Money – not only banking, but keep a balanced checking account and following a budget. I groan about it now, but I think I will appreciate the discipline of money management, especially if I save money.
  5. Grocery shopping.  I did grocery shopping my first winter in Tucson, but when I returned home I let Sherpa the Chef take over. His preference. So while this is a goal I accomplished last year, food shopping is a necessity. Maybe I could learn to like it?
  6. Car. Last year I did the basics, now oil changes and a major scheduled car maintenance are on the calendar.
  7. Shop as needed–hardware, clothing, food, art, department store, recreational. Again I managed last year, more practice needed.
  8. Find a tai chi, fitness, or yoga class. Find a meditation group or other spiritually oriented meeting place.
  • Travel and “Explores” Around the State
  1. National Parks and Monuments — National Parks are one of my passions. Re-visit as many National Parks as I can. Can I reach the magic number of twelve parks  — six repeats and six new? (I got to four repeats and three new parks.)
  2. Sky Islands. Learn about the different sky islands, visit a few. Include an overnight. (Went to five different sky islands.)
  3. Historic Missions — Explore the nearby missions again. Find new perspectives to photograph.
  4. Kartchner Cave — Combination of dark and claustrophobia worries. Even though I really wanted to see this cave, I never visited under the earth. Maybe this time? Yes, wonderful tour.
  5. Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum —Visit minimum of once a week to document the gradual changes, winter to spring. Love this place!
  6. Kitt Peak Observatory — Last year I visited the observatory during the day, but didn’t stay for a night sky show.
  7. Center for Photography at the University of Arizona.
  8. Learn the major crossroads in the city of Tucson. Learn the major highways in southern Arizona and how to get to major attractions and towns.
  9. Architecture and galleries in Bisbee.
  10. Drive to Phoenix, see the major museums in Phoenix. Saw a minor league baseball game in Phoenix, but didn;t drive.
  11. Go on several overnight car camping trips. Mt Lemmon? Chiricahua National Monument? Organ Pipe National Monument? Tucson Mountain Park?
  12. Extreme car camping sites? Death Valley? Joshua Tree National Park? Salton Sea? Anzo Borrega State Park in California?
  13. Visit CCC or PWA sites in Arizona. Document with photographs. (Did three sites.)
  14. Research Wright’s presence in Arizona and visit sites if possible.
  • Art and Photography
  1. Visit Center for Photography at the University. See #7 in Explores.
  2. Visit at least two exhibits at Tucson Art Museum. (Got to one.)
  3. Visit the art fairs and festivals in the area. Good to see other shows, artists, and their set-ups and art. (Saw two new ones.)
  4. Take photos at gardens, make card sets, and consider garden gift shops re: selling.
  5. Take a photo or art-related workshop from Desert Botanical Gardens.
  6. Apply to at least two, multiple artist, gallery or museum exhibits. (Applied to 3, got in one.)
  • Business of Art
  1. Talk to 3 gallery owners or shops about photographs/cards.
  2. Participate in 3-4 art festivals. (I did 2 art festivals – one big outside, one smaller inside.)
  3. Talk to artists wherever I meet them, find out what they do, where they work, what inspires them.
  4. Go to several meet-ups with photographers.
  5. Stay current with summer art fair applications.
  6. Continue doing architectural photo shoots on freelance assignment.
  • Sonoran Desert and other Habitats
  1. Continue to learn the desert– the history, geology, botanicals, weather, animals, birds.
  2. Hike the desert two-three times a week. (Got up to 5 mile hikes every week. And two  7-8 mile hikes every month.)
  3. Expand my skills in desert photography. Learn new techniques for desert photography and practice some new perspective shots.
  4. Take a birding class, learn to identify fifteen birds, and meet people at same time.
  • Learn about Tucson.
  1. Learn the downtown grid, and locations of the major shopping centers and entertainment venues.
  2. Go to downtown Tucson – day and evening, weekend and during week.
  3. Walk the University of Arizona campus. Visit the cactus gardens.
  4. Hike Sabino Canyon.
  5. Hike trails on Mount Lemmon.
  6. Hike Catalina Mountains.
  7. Visit art galleries.
  8. Explore neighborhoods, barrios, the Presidio and the Turquoise Walking Trail.

.———————-

Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. What a wonderful 100 days she spent in Arizona, but Bo is glad to be home in Wisconsin.

Filed Under: Art of Healing, Photography, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , ,

April’s Photo-Heart Connection Photo – An Unusual Choice

May 4, 2012 by 19 Comments
Burlington Northern Train Cars Dwarfed by Kansas Grain Elevators

Burlington Northern © 2012 Bo Mackison

This photograph is about as different from my usual photographs as it can be, but in going through my photo catalogs from April, this is the one I kept returning to. I found myself studying its lines, its color, the subject matter, perhaps a hidden meaning, trying to decipher why this particular photograph caught my attention, and my heart, and so qualified as April’s photo-heart connection selection.

(Kat Sloma from Kat Eye Studio encourages photographers to pick a photo once a month for sharing — a photo taken in the prior month that best makes a photo-heart connection.)

Now to work my way through the feelings/thoughts attached to this photo:

  • The subject matter is less typical for me than many other genres. I shoot macro-botanicals with passion and abandon; I am ever fond of architectural photos; I’ll drive miles to explore a landscape – particularly those in the wilderness, in National Parks, often with no sign of human activity; and yet here is a rural scene, a scene that is agricultural in theme.
  • I take 95% of my photographs with my Canon DSLR and then spend extra time in post-processing. I am a tinkerer of the post-processing process. I love to use software to create new ways of seeing a routine subject. I will consider many options regarding a small aspect of a photograph, and then go on to another small aspect, and another, and another. When I photograph with my DSLR, I love to take my time, study possibilities, set up my tripod and try lots of options before going on to the next subject. I shot this photo with my iPhone using a Hipstamatic app preset. Sherpa and I were on the long drive home, and we stopped briefly on a country road for a truck to make a left turn. I opened the car window, grabbed my phone, and took a single photo before the car began to move.
  • I like bright colors and focused, close-up details. And my love for the colors associated with the US Southwest has deepened since I began living in Arizona part of the year. I see more color in my photographs – the bright cerulean skies, the turquoise and orange buildings, colors that make a strong statement. But in this photo, the colors are muted. There are a few patches of a rusty color and the remainder is in soft greens, whites, browns.
  • I love the play of light and shadow in photographs, and this photograph hasn’t much light nor shadow. It was taken mid day under a cloudy sky, not typically a good time for photography.

So why this photograph?

  • Well, I am attracted to the composition. It feels satisfying to me, the blocks of different colors, three almost equal rectangular spaces, plus the darker colors as contrast. I do not often take symmetrical photographs, and honestly, I would probably not have composed this photograph as it is if I had been taking a more deliberate photo. But the symmetry provided by the grain elevators, and the strong horizontal and vertical lines seem to emphasize the subject of farm work and transportation in the country’s Midwest.
  • I like that the train car is marked with the logo of the Burlington Northern line. I grew up in the Midwest not far from Burlington, Iowa – the train company’s namesake. And several of my relatives – a grandfather and two uncles — worked for the Burlington Northern. I remember bits of their stories, I sometimes saw them return home from night shift duty with coal stained coveralls, and I associated the smell of their smoky clothes with a night of hard work.

So, an atypical photograph can be a favorite. A photograph with the vaguest memories of family can add a strong sense of human connection to a seemingly straightforward scene. And perhaps there is special thrill about a photograph taken on the run, the knowledge that taking a photograph isn’t only about f-stops and sharp focus and the rules.

Maybe it is also the appreciation of timing, good instincts, and a little luck!

————————

Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. After three months in the Southwest, Bo is back home in the Midwest. And just in time — her first art show of the summer season is tomorrow — Madison’s Audubon Art Fair at Warner Park on Madison’s east side. Seeded Earth Studio’s booth will be inside in the glassed-in annex. Hours are 9:30 am to 4:30 pm.

 

Filed Under: Photography, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Murals on Historic Route 66

May 3, 2012 by 6 Comments
Bus to Tucumcari - Historic Route 66 Art

Bus to Tucumcari © 2012 Bo Mackison

On our travels from Arizona to Wisconsin, we took a few long detours away from the Interstate system. There are only so many hours of a driving day that I want filled with semi trucks passing me going upwards of 85 mph. At least when we take the more rural routes, we are usually pleased to find decent two lane roads, little traffic, and a few surprises along the way.

One such surprise — actually one long string of surprises — was the strip of Historic Route 66 running through the northern part of Tucumcari, New Mexico. These few blocks of Route 66 are filled with a wonderland of murals depicting the Mother Road in a different era.

You're Here - Historic Route 66 Motel and Murals

You're Here © 2012 Bo Mackison

Many of the murals feature the slogans “Tucumcari Tonite” and “You’re Here” reminiscent of the times when these signs dotted the highway for hundreds of miles, beckoning the Route 66 travelers to stop at one of the dozens of motels that lined the main street in Tucumcari. Now, Interstate 40 runs along the southern edge of the town and there are hotels and restaurants providing for most travelers who are in search of the speediest  way.

But there also is a lot of renovation going on along Route 66, and quite a few appealing vintage motels are open for business, providing all the comforts of home. And a great view of a lot of really fun art.

Tucumcari Tonite - Historic Route 66

Historic Route 66 Motel © 2012 Bo Mackison

If you are inclined to see a thousand or so vintage murals, there is even a resource from the Mural Museum, conveniently titled 1,000 Murals – From Pontiac Illinois to Tucumcari New Mexico. It provides information on finding those many elusive art forms on the back roads of middle America.

Tucumcari Tonight - Historic Route 66 Motel

Tucumcari Tonight © 2012 Bo Mackison

Perhaps I will stop and see a few more of these amazing murals on my return trip to Arizona. Wouldn’t it be an adventure to follow parts of Route 66 and document the murals in photographs? I only had a (very) short time to snap these few photos as Sherpa and I took a short break from driving.

But it would be even more fun to stop awhile in some of these towns, say hello to the local citizens, and see more than the back ends of speeding trucks making time on the Interstate.

——————–

Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Sometimes she needs to rush along and traveling on the Interstates make sense, but she much prefers to take her time and see the country she is traveling through.

Filed Under: Photography, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Traveling East, A Spring Greening

May 1, 2012 by 12 Comments

The greening of the trees in spring rain,
see-through trees like a lacy negligee, the nesting bird
watches from the half-leafed trees.

Traveling in the Rain

Rain Travel © 2012 Bo Mackison

Calves balancing on gentle hills rub their noses in the wet grasses.
One stands wobbly, leans against its mother.
Others watch their mothers watching them, nibble a bit, suckle,
wander about the remains of last fall’s tattered harvest.

Darkest brown, Iowa’s earth, earth that dips
and dances. We’ve driven past the Kansas grasslands,
and not yet reached the prairie flat of Illinois.

See the family plot tucked tightly between
the edge of the woods and the tilled field;
Splintered posts and strands of wire mark its boundary.
Roughly hewed stones, two rows of three, the mossy inscriptions illegible.
Though one, a mother’s marker, is split in half – part upright,
part broken off and tipped into the rain-soaked grass.
The roughened quarry block, now a rest stop for crows,
splats of white the only sign of life.

Clouds hang gray, so low I yearn to stand
and push them high into the skies, high enough to punch an opening into the dim blueness
that is Midwestern sky, give sunlight to the earth.
Yet fog lingers, sky primed in deep grays.

We pass a highway sign, What Cheer, population 142. Twenty miles south.
I wish to see a town worthy of this name, but we’re on the fourth morning of steady travel.
There is no will to detour.
Tonight we sleep in the familiar ridges and valleys of our familiar bed.

First I will say hello to the house I left a hundred days ago,
walk through the rooms I know by memory, peer out the back window at the apple tree.
I’m told no blossoms remain.

Oklahoma, Gray Skies, and a White Truck

White Truck © 2012 Bo Mackison

I bought a primitive statue of a woman last summer from a stone sculptor the next booth over.
She toppled in a winter storm. My husband mentions this
as he pulls into the Save-n-Go in Dubuque for gas and coffee.

Tomorrow morning I’ll push her upright so we can watch the garden together.
We will meet, eye to eye, and reflect on the greenness of Midwest spring.

———————-

Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. After four days of cross-country travel, Bo is back home in the Midwest.

Filed Under: Photography, Travel, Writing Practices Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

In the Abstract

April 29, 2012 by 4 Comments
Abstract Torch Flower

In the Abstract © 2012 Bo Mackison

One looks, looks long, and the world comes in. ~ Joseph Campbell

The sharp edges of the desert are softening. The sunrise I watched every morning is hidden behind the gray clouds of a Midwestern spring rain and I hold the sunrise in my memory. The cactus flowers that I spoke to every day, gently touched and examined as if I were examining the delicacy and newness and the miracle of my first born child, those flowers are by now wilting and other buds are opening.

I miss my daily exercise on the desert paths, I miss watching the prickly pear cactus in the back arroyo and guessing which buds would next open. I miss the bright sunshine, the heat of the light on my back and arms. I miss the ritual of preparation I had grown to enjoy, the ritual of applying the sun screen and hat and coverings, of gathering enough water and the right maps and my hiking stick and pack.

I miss the constant chatter and song of the many birds, the questioning of the owls, the late night and early morning cries of the coyote. I miss the road runners strutting past my glass doors, the quails playing hide and seek under the cactus, and especially the bobcat that would stop at the stoop of my porch, stare through my door, and then casually move on into the arroyo.

But none of this is gone. I close my eyes, and I remember. I shake awake my senses, recall the scent of the desert after a brief rainfall, the whirr of the hummingbirds as they sip nectar from the feeder, and the bzzz of the carpenter bee’s dip and dance, the almost constant questioning and answering of the pair of doves.

I can look into the bright colors of this photograph, the abstract lines and shapes, and it is almost as if I am looking into a crystal ball as I recall the past few months of desert days and nights.

—————-

Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is on the road today, on her way back to her other home.

Filed Under: Art of Healing, Photography, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »