Three Tops at a Mic

Three Tops at a Mic

Three Tops at a Mic © 2011 Bo Mackison

I am imagination. I can see what the eyes cannot see. I can hear what the ears cannot hear. I can feel what the heart cannot feel. ~ Peter Nivio Zarlenga

Ever get carried away with your imagination as you look at the most ordinary of scenes?

This photograph of the prairie as it is breaking apart and shedding its finery in preparation for winter is straightforward. A few coneflower seed heads plus a stem in focus in the foreground, and more seed heads — out of focus — in the background.

And suddenly I no longer see the dying autumn prairie:

I see the “Three Tops,” a premier singing group in Prairie Land, at their microphone. Singing their hearts out as their fanatic audience sways to their rhythmic beat. Many in the audience are singing in their seats, but a few of the “Three Tops” most ardent fans are squealing and dancing at the bottom of the stage.

Hmm . . . Ursula Le Guin wrote, “I doubt that the imagination can be suppressed. If you truly eradicated it in a child, he would grow up to be an eggplant.”

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Bo Mackison is a photographer, owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She walks the prairie, thankful she did not grow up to be an eggplant.

Art at the Creek

Art at the Creek - October 2011

Art at the Creek © 2011 Bo Mackison

The Coldwater Creek Store at Greenway Station in Middleton, Wisconsin will be featuring Seeded Earth Studio in their inaugural Art at the Creek Show this Thursday, October 20 from 4:30 p.m. – 7 p.m. I’ll be exhibiting my most popular botanical photographs, as well as introducing a new series of photographs on mini-canvases. Each mini-canvas comes with its own easel, a great way to display these tiny treasures.

Coldwater Creek will be providing refreshments throughout the evening. The store is in Greenway Station, just three blocks west of the West Beltline (Highways 12 and 14) and the Greenway Blvd exit.

If you are in the Madison/Middleton area, I would love for you to stop and visit my photography gallery inside the store. You will think you are standing in the middle of a summer garden! Promise!

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

 

Sunlit

Sunlit

Sunlit © 2011 Bo Mackison

Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change – this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress. ~ Bruce Barton

Change is in the air, and it’s not only the changing of autumn trees.Though the change in the trees has been spectacular this year.

In a few hours, I’ll be getting on a plane and traveling to Long Island to celebrate the wedding of my older daughter. There will be a wine tasting, dinner under the stars, a clam bake and picnic on the beach, oh yes, and a wonderful marriage ceremony. Another spectacular event for this autumn.

If I’m not around for the next few days, I’m either traveling, taking photographs on Long Island, drying my eyes, or eating wedding cake!

Congratulations to the happy couple, Jeanne and Judy!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo is taking a few days off to celebrate a special family occasion.

 

Study in White

In White

Study in White © 2012 Bo Mackison

Flowers… are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out-values all the utilities of the world. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hard to believe it is almost time to say goodbye to the month of September.  Soon the flowers will disappear from the gardens, but there will still be photographs to remind us of their beauty. It is easy to walk past a garden bursting with colors and textures, and never see an individual flower. But when the eye studies a single bloom, there is much to see. I love how all the simple parts join to give this flower a stunning visual presence.

I photographed this white flower, identity unknown, in early September at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison Wisconsin.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She has a backlog of floral photographs, so she will be sharing botanicals for many days to come.

A Photograph with a Story

Two Benches

Two Benches © 2011 Bo Mackison

Many of my photographs have a story.

This photograph of two benches — one near and in focus, one far away and blurry — it has a story.

I had a long conversation with an elderly gentleman just before I took this photograph.

Often I am so focused on the plants in the gardens, I don’t spend much time interacting with other visitors. We exchange smiles and hellos, and we go on our separate ways. But this man stopped me as I was setting up a photo, and asked if he could ask me some questions. Expecting questions about my camera or lenses, I nodded and continued to adjust my tripod.

“I saw you back there, sitting on the bricks in that garden. You were staring at the plants,” he stated.

This wasn’t the conversation I was expecting, but he was polite and he was wearing a tweed jacket in the 85˚ heat. I’m not sure why I think tweed jackets vouch for a gentleman’s conversation, but I do. I stopped and listened more carefully.

“So what were you doing? You weren’t resting. There was a bench right there. Not pulling weeds.”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Most people your age, um, I mean no disrespect, but your generation, they don’t sit on the ground looking at eggplants.” He raised his eyebrows quizzically, and I laughed out loud as he “pulled a face” – the description my grandfather once used when describing the faces I made.

I agreed again. “No, not too many people study eggplants, sitting on the sidewalk. Grocery store’s more likely.”

“So were you praying or just looking mighty hard at that eggplant?” He thought a second, and said in a whisper, “Guess might be ’bout same thing.”

I smiled again. Seemed everything he said made me smile. I told him I was studying the way the leaves wound around some of the stems. I was looking at the way the sunlight cast leafy shadows on the plants and comparing the different shades of green with the rusty spots left by bugs of some sort.

“Thought you might be a real one.” He grinned at me as I frowned. “You know, a photographer. You ever take pictures of benches?”

I told him I enjoyed photographing benches, doors, paths, that sort of thing. Especially in gardens.

He nodded. Turned serious.

“I was sitting on that bench over there awhile, the one half under that tree.” I looked where he pointed. “I sit there some days, just sit and look. Talk to an old friend. Not out loud.” He cast his eyes toward the pavement. “That wouldn’t look right.”

 When his gaze returned to me, he saw the question in my eyes.

“He was a good friend of mine. We were in the Marines together, fought in the “Big One”. Enlisted together, got discharged together, came home to Madison together. Married, had kids, grandkids, huh, great-grandkids. All that.

“After we retired, we’d walk this garden, talk. It was quiet. We liked quiet. You go look. That bench, it’s a memorial to my friend. You might take a picture sometime.”

I asked if he wanted his photo taken on the bench. He shook his head.

I picked up my camera gear and walked over to the bench. I looked back, he nodded at me, did a quick salute, and walked away.

I sat down awhile, studied the bench, looked around, then I took a picture of his bench.

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