Beginnings

Owen Park

Beginning of a Snowstorm © 2012 Bo Mackison

Reading about nature is fine, but if a person walks in the woods and listens carefully he can learn even more. ~ George Washington Carver

The snow predictions were right on target. Yesterday morning at this time it had just begun to snow. Now there are six inches of snow covering the ground. I went out early yesterday, about an hour after the storm whipped into Madison. In the thick of this hardwood  grove, there was the silence of nature. Nothing much to hear, unless I stopped and stood still. And listened. And waited.

The snow pelted the ground without sound, but vibrated the pile of oak leaves still attached to their branch. I heard what sounded like the breath of the wind blowing gently, the tremble of a leaf as the snow fell heavier. A single snowflake would not disturb a single oak leaf, but  a swirl of snowflakes makes the branch of leaves dance.

The birds were silent. The wild turkeys, always a noisy crew, were strutting through another part of the park. No coyotes were out, not in mid-day. I hear them mostly at night, a siren-mimicking whine that always make me listen twice. Am I listening to the warning of a siren or the wailing of the coyotes? Even the squirrels had deserted this area.

My world is often silenced by the fall of snow, it blots out the sounds of man, and requires me to listen carefully to the sounds of the natural world around me.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo is exploring winter – close up and quietly.

Snowstorm in the Woods

Owen Park

Before the Storm © 2012 Bo Mackison

Each moment of the year has its own beauty. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

This morning when I began my day it was still night. Not quite. It looked like night, but it was early morning and the sun’s rising time has not yet caught up with my internal wake-up alarm.

The house was also awake. Pipes were humming-moaning-rumbling with flowing water and reminded me of the sounds of a storm which reminded me that there were predictions for a snowstorm today in our area. I peered outside into the almost dark. The remains of the perennial garden — stalks and seed heads — stood in silhouette against the open field beyond out land.

Bare ground, absent of snow from blizzards or ice storms or even ordinary snow storms, looked out of place in the middle weeks of January. The storm which was to have begun in the middle of the night had not yet appeared. I checked the Doppler radar, and smiled as I remembered waiting for weather forecasts on the radio as a teen.

“Five til the hour and five til the half hour” the jingle went, announcing times for the weather forecasts. It seemed an awkward way to give the schedule.

Now there is hardly any wait at all. The computer screen opens to a weather website and a United States map. It shows a eastward moving swath of royal blue the width of the state of Iowa. Royal blue is weather code for “big snow”. The storm is only twenty miles from Madison.

By the time I leave the house, snow is coming down in a blinding fury. By the time I’ve run a couple of errands and picked up extra milk, visibility is poor and the ground is covered with several inches of snow. I take a detour to Owen Park and then to Strickers Pond to take some winter photographs.

I fly to Tucson next week, so this may be my one of my only chances to tromp around in the snow and take pictures of the white stuff. Good thing I keep my extras of my winter outerwear in the car!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She’s now admiring the snowstorm from inside her home, and she’s glad she doesn’t have to go back out and drive on the slippery streets.

 

4th Annual Photographic Alphabet – IV

And now for a brief (non-commercial) message:

 Sending you wishes for a Happy New Year’s Day
and a perfectly matched 2012, filled with good health, inner joy and true contentment.

 Now we return to Bo’s photographic alphabet:

N IS FOR NATURE.

Poppy Composition

Poppy Composition © 2011 Bo Mackison

My year-end alphabet would not be complete if I did not include a few of the photographs which have become my photo identity and art festival favorites. I’ve worked a set of eight poppy photographs that I took in the garden of a Frank Lloyd Wright house in many ways.

In White

Composition In White © 2011 Bo Mackison

And I’ve learned much about the possibilities of Lightroom and Nik Software, programs I once thought I could never learn how to use. These new avenues of exploration brought my botanical photographs into places I only thought existed in my mind, in my vision.

"Sunset" Coneflowers

“Sunset” Coneflowers © 2011 Bo Mackison

So many wonders, so many possibilities!

O IS FOR ORDINARY OPPORTUNITIES AND OUT-OF-ORDINARY ONES.

Round Barn - Fromme-Birney Barn

Fromme-Birney Barn © 2011 Bo Mackison

On our drive from Tucson to Wisconsin this spring, we left the Interstate and took State Highway 54 through Kansas. It is hard to see much of anything while zooming along the interstates at 75 mph, squeezed between double semi trailers, and when I did see something of interest, it was never safe to pull on the side of the road or stop. But once we were on a two lane highway, I felt like we were traveling and seeing.

I love to shoot architectural subjects, so when we noticed a sign for “Historical Barn – 3 Miles”, we turned off the highway and headed into the countryside. Soon this amazing structure came into view.

Round Barn - Second Floor and Ceiling

Round Barn Ceiling © 2011 Bo Mackison

What a wonderful place to explore, and we had it all to ourselves. The Fromme-Birney barn was planned in 1912 by Henry W. Fromme. He hired William “Pat” Campbell to build a round barn to house his 28 draft horses and a special stall for the Percheron stallion that he imported from France.

Shortly after completion, the tractor replaced the horse and the barn became obsolete and eventually fell into disrepair. It was restored in the 1980s and then listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A good reminder to keep taking advantage of those experiences which sound quite ordinary. Never know what you’ll find a few miles off the hurried road.

P IS FOR PINNACLES.

Three Rocks

Three Rocks © 2011 Bo Mackison

Sometimes life takes me to the top of the highest pinnacle. The view is mighty fine, but I discover that climbing up was doable because I could only see where I was going, I did not look back to see the treacherous open space behind me. I concentrated on moving, not on falling.

But once I’ve taken in the view, I realize I must get off the top of this mountain.

But how?

The answer is in this quotation I copied into my quote book a few years ago:

Come to the edge,
He said.
They said:
We are afraid.
Come to the edge,
He said.
They came.
He pushed them,
And they flew.
~ Guillaume Apollinaire

Q IS FOR QUAIL CONDO.

Quail Condo

Quail Condo © 2011 Bo Mackison

Joseph Wood Krutch, who wrote the book The Desert Year in 1985, discovered the Sonoran Desert and its evocative beauty quite late in life. I discovered the book last February and couldn’t stop reading it. I copied several quotations into my journal that seemed to resonate deep within my soul.

“More rarely…one experiences something more like love at first sight. The desire to stay, to enter in, is not a whim or a notion but a passion.”

“Verweile doch, du bist so schön.” translated from German to “Linger yet, you are so beautiful.”

If I do not somehow possess this, if I never learn what it was that was being offered, I shall feel all my life that I have missed something intended for me. If I do not, for a time at least, live here I shall not have lived as fully as I had the capacity to live.” ~ Joseph Wood Krutch

Last March, on the very day that Sherpa and I were to return to the Midwest from the Tucson area, we saw an “open house” on a realtor’s sign. It was near the condo I had rented for two months, in an area I had fallen in love with. Impulsively we went in to see what we might see. That condo was too large and too costly, but the realtor offered to show us some smaller condos in the area.

Sherpa and I explored one of those condos with growing enthusiasm and with a great deal of growing doubt. How could we be serious about purchasing a place when we were getting in a car and driving 2,000 miles to our home in a few hours? After a few amazing, coincidental happenings, the pieces of the ‘property purchase puzzle’ fell neatly into place. We made an offer through the realtor, also a neighbor, and drove away.

Yes, we did buy the place. We agreed to the contract while we were driving in northeastern New Mexico, and finalized the deal by email and fax when we reached Wisconsin.

I’ll be flying to Arizona in a couple of weeks and I am thoroughly thrilled. Like the owners of state-sized ranches and fifty room mansions, Sherpa and I christened the tiny condo with its own name — Quail Condo! (Because when we were there in November, there were many Gambel’s quails strutting through the back arroyo every morning.)

As Krutch wrote, “…not a whim or a notion, but a passion.” Now I can take photos of the deserts and the surrounding area for an extended time and do art festivals in the winter and spring. So excited! A dream realized.

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Today’s post has been brought to you by the letters N, O, P and Q.

Tomorrow’s post will be brought to you by R, S, T and U.

And yesterday’s post was brought to you by K, L and M.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Posts brought to you by the letters of the alphabet through January 3rd — what would we do without alphabet letters!

4th Annual Photographic Alphabet – III

K IS FOR KINETIC.

Autumn in Color

Three Trees on Blue © 2011 Bo Mackison

When people ask me what I do — a very popular question judging from the number of times this subject comes up — I tell them I am a photographer. And then the next question is often, “Oh, what do you shoot?” I occasionally say “Anything and everything, except for a bride walking down the aisle.” I’ve cried at every wedding I’ve ever attended, I explain, and who wants a wedding photographer who can’t see through the camera lens.

Abstract Pond Reflection

Abstract Pond Reflection © 2011 Bo Mackison

But most often, I give my answer that is most truthful, that I photograph flowers and other botanicals, and that I often use a macro lens so that I get a close up shot of a flower, or perhaps only a part of the flower. But in my head I am shaking my head and laughing, because if I tried to explain what it really is I photograph — well, I’m not sure I could always explain it coherently to myself.

Paper Birches in Sunlight

Birches in Sunlight © 2011 Bo Mackison

Sometimes I shoot kinetic photographs, photos taken while I intentionally move the camera, usually along a wide plane — up to down or left to right, or diagonally. I love the surprise of the photo. I usually have a good idea of what I am photographing, but with kinetic photography, the photos are always a surprise. Sometimes it’s the color I love, sometimes I love the abstract swatches, sometimes I can almost make out the scene and I love how the real is hidden and the imagination has to substitute for reality.

L IS FOR LINES.

Gabel House

Gabel House © 2011 Bo Mackison

Another type of photograph I take for my pleasure are objects that include lines. Lines going every which way, lines in different colors, lines made up of light and shadow. One of the reasons I’m fascinated by the study of lines in composition is because I like to determine how I ‘look’ at a photograph of many lines.

Fence, Bench, Bricks

Fence, Bench, Bricks © 2011 Bo Mackison

By that I mean, where do I look after I’ve looked at the whole photograph?  Try it on one of these line photos.

Typically you will take the entire photograph in with a first glance, and then you will methodically look at the photograph, piece by piece. I like to study where my eyes travel, and try to understand what draws my eyes in that pattern.

Shadow and Light

Roof of Shadow and Light © 2011 Bo Mackison

Does it work for you? Do you look at the entire photo quickly and then begin to decipher it? If so, how did you look at the photo of the roof?

  • When did you look at the white in the center, the cloud nearly hidden from view by the slatted roof?
  • When did you look at the dark corner? Did you search the darkness to see if there was anything to see?
  • And when did you notice the string of metal lights along the edge of the roof? Did you notice all three of the lights, or only one or two of them?

There is often more to photography than just looking at a pretty photograph of a flower, and though I love my botanical photos, I also love to shoot for the pleasure of learning about photography.

M IS FOR MINIMALISM.

Kansas Minimalist

Kansas Minimalist © 2011 Bo Mackison

I also like to shoot minimalist subjects, though I hate to spell or pronounce the word minimalist. All those m’s and n’s get mixed up. In some ways minimalist photographs are almost the opposite of the ‘L’ photographs of lines. Why?

Grasslands

Grasslands © 2011 Bo Mackison

Many people look at these two types of photographs in different ways. In the minimalist photos, viewers will often search for what is not in the photo. Is there something ‘hiding’ in the photo that is the main point the scene? What am I looking for?

Instead of searching each part of the photos to see what is there, as one does in the photos with many lines, we search each part of the minimalist photographs to see what it is we have not seen on first glance. Often, after that search has not recovered a sleeping lion in the grasslands or a red boot in the snow, the viewer relaxes a bit and takes in the photo as a whole, noticing horizon lines, breaks in lines, or diagonals that lead the eye into the distance.

Wisconsin Minimalism

Wisconsin Minimalism © 2011 Bo Mackison

You thought you were just looking at photographs of roofs and benches and snowdrifts? Well, you were doing that, too.You were looking at the subject and the lighting, the textures and the colors, the shadows, and comparing it to other similar scenes you have stored in your memory. Amazing, hmm?

Photography is pretty darn amazing, Now go and celebrate the ringing in of the New Year.

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Today’s post has been brought to you by the letters K, L and M.

Tomorrow’s post will be brought to you by the letters N, O, P and Q.

And yesterday’s post was brought to you by E, F, G, H, I and J.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Posts brought to you by the alphabet — what would we do without alphabet letters! — through January 3rd.

 

Magic Wand, Anyone?

Fairy in Light II

Fairy in Pink Light © 2011 Bo Mackison

Being in a place of uncertainty and edginess can be transformative. Stay with those feelings, even for a moment, it is actually a genuine act of kindness to ourselves. Though being compassionate enough to accomodate our own fears takes courage and feels counter-intuitive.  ~ Pema Chodron, from The Places that Scare You

The week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day has become less of a resting space (as I had envisioned in my fantasies) and more of a deep-breathing-keep-calm-and-keep-moving-forward space. As the above quote states so very clearly, “being in a place of uncertainty and edginess can be transformative.”

Transformation sounds good. I decided to work on some organization during this less hectic time and made progress. I worked on the new timeline on Facebook, and surprisingly, I like the new feature. I’m not an advocate of most of Facebook’s improvements, but this seems to make things more orderly instead of more confusing. I spruced up my Seeded Earth business account on Facebook while I was there. Good.

Then I cleaned up my Twitter account. Removed dead accounts, added some exciting new ones to match some of my developing interests. Changed the background while I was changing everything else. Good.

Anticipating the change from 2011 to 2012, I made new photo sets in Flickr for the 2012 calendar year, moved older sets to a less visible place. Cleaned up some misfiled photographs and added tags to a few forgotten photos. Flickr is one of my most viable vehicles for new business, and so I keep my finished photos up to date. Each photograph is in an easy-to-find organized set. Good.

Late yesterday I opened my folder for art festival applications and took a deep breath. New rules. New definitions of digital vs. photographic art. Changed and now conflicting show dates. Show information that requires corrections and back and forth, back and forth emails. I started in on the paperwork.

Almost immediately I hit a brick wall. I must pick 3 to 5 photographs of my art to submit with the written applications. The photos are the primary source for the jury to judge the hundreds or even thousands of applications.  Those few photographs need to capture the essence of my art, and are ultimately the deciding factor whether I get an invitation to the shows this summer or I am told “sorry, please apply again next year”.

Of course, my inner critic needed to speak up. “What if the only jury liked last year’s photography?” “What if they don’t like the newer photos?” “What if there is too much digital manipulation?” “What if the jurors collectively despise the color red and two of the chosen photos feature red?”

Hmm. It’s like a game. I have to choose the application photos, and then be done with it. Once the apps are out the door, the decisions are out of my hands. Good.

But I’d thought the pressure and the to-do list was going to lighten this week, and that didn’t happen.

I console myself with the fact that I am doing what I love — taking photographs, creating art, showing it at festivals, talking to art enthusiasts about my techniques, adding new collectors. All jobs, including the work of artists, have the fun parts and the not so fun parts. So it’s time to pick out those photographs and get those applications off my to-do list. Summer will be here before I know it!

p.s. In the post I linked to my Facebook, Twitter and Flickr accounts. If you want to connect via Twitter, Facebook, or Flickr, feel free to follow any (or all) of the links. Thanks.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer, owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is in super-organizer mode during this short work week, and nothing — not even dreaded paperwork — will slow her down!