Listening to the Land

Before the Storm

Storm Watch © 2013 Bo Mackison

There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks.
Most of the time we are simply not patient enough,
quiet enough, to pay attention to the story.
~ Linda Hogan, in Listening to the Land

I spend a lot of time out in nature, standing on the land. Grounding myself in the present. On watch. Listening to the sky as the clouds rumble into each other, listening as the dust blows across the earth, contemplating where the dirt road with the missing gate would take me if I chose to walk its lines.

I believe that this is one of the gifts I was given at this time in my life. I have time, time enough to stand and silently absorb the story of the earth. I have the time it takes to be patient. I have the time it takes to be fully quiet. I live a life of pacing. I am blessed that I can life my life slowly.

If I have the time to listen to the land, then surely I have time to also listen to the inhabitants of this land.

I read an article not so long ago regarding the customs of greeting people. We give automatic responses to each other to one of life’s important questions. “How are you?” we ask, routinely, not waiting for any sort of meaningful response. Even eye to eye contact would be a small gift in this exchange, an acknowledgement. “Yes, I see you. I honor you as a fellow human being.” But busy lives often prevent even the most fleeting moments of connection.

As a practice, it is harder than I think it should be. I’ve been intentionally practicing this for quite a few weeks now. With store checkers and baggers, with gas station attendants, with people I pass on the street. A simple hello and a meeting of the eyes. Sometimes I find it incredibly difficult, and I wonder if it is a practice that we have learned to curtail as a society?

So I continue to practice. And pay attention to the story I am hearing.

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

Sight Lines

Shed

Shed ©2013 Bo Mackison

Look at everything. Don’t close your eyes to the world around you.
Look and become curious and interested in what there is to see. ~ John Cage

Look at everything.
Barbed wire fence that separates road from range.
Stick-branched stunted tree. Clumps of grasses, golden-browned by the sun.
A corrugated shed, rusting; its door swung open.

Abandoned?
Or waiting?

The sight line that divides the heavens and the earth.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  She is wandering in southeastern Arizona, but she is not lost.

A Valentine Cactus

Heart in Nature

Cactus Heart © 2010 Bo Mackison

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”
~ Lao Tzu

This photo of a cactus heart makes another Valentine’s Day appearance, as I wish my Valentines a happy day.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  She sends much love and deep gratitude to her very special Valentine.

Travelin’ Road

Arizona Highway

Traveling Arizona © 2013 Bo Mackison

People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness.
Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.
~ H. Jackson Brown

There are days I choose a destination and plot a route that avoids the interstate system or the major highways. I pull off to the side of the road, just so I can look at what I am seeing. Or maybe it is so I can see what I am looking at. There are many times when I don’t exactly know where I am, but I’m not lost.

When it’s time to return home, I head west until my way is blocked by one of Arizona’s many mountain ranges. Finding a way around or through or over is part of the adventure.

Similar to life. When we run into an obstacle, we find a way over or around or through.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  There are many roads to explore, and many obstacles to overcome.

See Through Barriers

Barrier of Branches

Barrier of Branches © 2013 Bo Mackison

“In a forest of a hundred thousand trees, no two leaves are alike.
And no two journeys along the same path are alike.” ~ Paulo Coelho, Aleph

Barriers. I’ve been writing about, photographing, thinking about barriers lately. Real barriers, invented barriers. Barriers in the forms of stories we tell ourselves. Barriers we erect and mistakenly believe will provide us with protection, or hide us from our truths. Barriers to hide us from our fears, other emotions, other people.

Many of those barriers are like the photograph of the trees. I can see through these trees. People on the other side of the tree line can also see through the bare branches, and can surely see me – perhaps not plainly, but they still know I am here. Because I am not easily seen, they may make assumptions about who I am and why I am standing (or hiding) on this side of the trees.

How easy would it be for me to cross through the tree line, make my way to the other side? I have a good idea of the terrain that lies beyond the trees. Grasslands — a few spongy areas where I will get my feet wet, or detour around. A mountain range rises in the far distance. I will expend a lot of energy climbing the mountain, but won’t the view be grand and well worth it? There are storm clouds in the distance too. I may run into bad weather. Or not.

Do I make my way through, explore a new space, or stay in familiar environs?

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is exploring creative photography and emotion in a  series called Desert Lines – a combination of visual lines and written lines.