Frosted Seedhead – Morning in Owen Conservation Park

Seedheads with Bokeh at Owen Conservation Park in Madison, Wisconsin

Frosted Seedheads © 2010 Bo Mackison

Another photo from early morning in Wisconsin. Frost and mist give an extra bit of mood to a field of prairie flower seed heads.

Photographed at Owen Conservation Park in Madison, Wisconsin.

Good Morning, November – Misty in Owen Conservation Park

Good Morning, November © 2010 Bo Mackison

Frosty, misty, so early in the morning, the earth hasn’t had time to put on her proper colors. Still in that early morning froth of pink. Photographed at Owen Conservation Park on Election Day morning.

What will this day hold?

Not Your Typical Pumpkin Patch

Not Your Typical Pumpkin Patch © 2010 Bo Mackison

Something simple for Halloween Day. A rather atypical pumpkin patch.

This may be the most innately creative pumpkin I’ve seen this Halloween season.

Solitary Tree at Sunrise – Yellowstone National Park

Sunlit Tree at Black Sand Basin in Yellowstone

Solitary Tree at Sunrise © 2010 Bo Mackison

Early light from an autumn sunrise gave a magical quality to this tree in the Black Sand Basin in Yellowstone National Park. The mountainside in the background shows the new growth and the remnants of the destroyed lodgepole pines from the 1988 fire that affected nearly a third of the park.

Sunrise at Black Sand Basin, Yellowstone National Park

Viewing Black Sand Basin © 2010 Bo Mackison

Black Sand Basin is a rather isolated group of thermal features in the Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. There are several jewel colored pools and geysers in the area, but I had a hard time concentrating on the specific geysers because the earliest light from the sunrise hitting the steam in 40˚F weather had turned this area, already a Wonderland, into a gigantic, purplish-yellow kaleidoscope of almost unnatural, but dazzling color.

There were only two other visitors at this time of the day, but it was one of the highlights of my three days in Yellowstone. Later, when I watched Old Faithful–the big geyser draw in the park–amongst a noisy crowd of onlookers, I kept thinking I had already seen the real show — at sunrise in Black Sand Basin.