Hanging On? Time to Let Go!

September 25, 2013 by 5 Comments
Hanging On

Hanging On, and Then… © 2013 Bo Mackison

“Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength.
However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.”
~ Ann Landers

The old ways are so comfortable. I know this.
I hesitate when told it’s time to let go,
take flight…where am I going?
The possibilities rise endlessly,
questions to ponder, details, details.
No time for planning, just let go.

The leaf releases, takes flight,
precious, brief, free fall, wind drift. Swirl.
Does it land upon the earth – field or garden?
Blow across the prairie, catch upon a protruding stalk?
Drift into the lake, sink to the muddy bottom?

Feed the earth, feed the garden,
decomposing, new earth, crumbly and nutritive?
Wither on the stalk, get torn apart by biting winds?
Sink into the wet, matted and slimy,
transform into a home, a hiding place, for tiny critters?

I let go of the familiar,
fly away with the unpredictable winds.
The future is unknown, my game of possibility.
Though I’d plotted my course, only an unexpected gust,
and I’m in new territory, unexplored places
frightening, exciting.

Oh, the challenges ahead!
Forward, then, with open eyes, open mind, open heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bo Mackison is photographer, book-maker, collector of stories, naturalist, curator and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Life is one continual opportunity for change – sometimes adapting to those changes is as adventurous as riding a leaf in a windstorm.

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

Bruised Heart

July 26, 2013 by 2 Comments
Fading Leaf in Fountain - Olbrich Garden

Bruised Heart ©2013 Bo Mackison

When words become unclear
I shall focus with photographs.
When images become inadequate,
I shall be content with silence.
~ Ansel Adams

It was a cloudy morning in Madison, a quiet day. I spent part of my early morning reading through my old journals, a practice I frequently do. I find that while skimming through old journal entries, I come away with new insights.

Today I re-read several pages of notes from an article written by Roger Walsh, author of The Practices of Essential Spirituality. He has studied and researched the great spiritual traditions of the world for the last several decades, and in this article he had written about wisdom.

The five places to find wisdom:

  • in nature
  • when practicing silence or solitude
  • from the wise, from elders
  • by listening to one’s own wisdom
  • and by looking for wisdom in the nature of life and death, in mortality.

This evening the sun has re-appeared,  fluffy clouds dot the sky, and there’s a cool breeze in the air. It’s a perfect summer evening for a walk around the pond, listening to the sounds of the approaching evening, and finding solace in the beauty of the natural world.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is contemplating, and walking, the paths of wisdom-seeking.

 

 

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

To Photograph a Leaf

November 20, 2012 by 8 Comments

Leaf and Light ©2012 Bo Mackison

It is no accident that a photographer becomes a photographer any more than a lion tamer becomes a lion tamer. ~ Dorothea Lange

I love how the sun light on the backs of these layers of leaves, subtracts the light and adds the shadows. I feels like one big leafy puzzle to me. These are the kinds of photographs – ones that delight and surprise – that make me happy I have fallen so passionately involved with photography. When I saw this leaf, I just had to take its portrait!

There’s hardly a day that passes without me taking a walk with camera in tow or me pulling over to the side of the road when a photo opportunity catches my eye. So thankful am I for my camera that rides shot-gun whenever I run errands to a store, drive to the other side of town, or take a cross-country trip.

—————–

Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo is looking forward to her next cross country trip – planning, packing, and counting down the hours until it’s time to go!

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The Red Stem

September 19, 2011 by 3 Comments
Red Stem

Red Stem © 2011 Bo Mackison

It is a good idea to be alone in the garden at dawn or dusk so that all its shy presences may haunt you and possess you in a reverie of suspended thought.   ~ James Douglas

When I study this photograph, it gives me a feeling of being supported.

I see the red stem divide to support the two-lobed, dew soaked leaf. I see the leaf, waving in a steady breeze. I see the stem sway back and forth, absorbing nature’s forces. The leaf has such a magnificent support system in place.

A single leaf has adequate support.

Surely I also have a support system in place, perhaps invisible or unnoticed, but strong and flexible nonetheless.

Filed Under: Nature Explorations, Photography Tagged With: , , ,

Sunlit Leaf

September 18, 2011 by 10 Comments
Sunlit Leaf

Sunlit Leaf © 2011 Bo Mackison

Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain. ~ Henry David Thoreau

“An insect view of its plain.”

I love that description of my kind of macro-photography, written by none other than Thoreau. It seems I do explore the world of insects, though I am not in search of the creepy crawlers, only in search of the way the sun lights the back of a leaf, the way the ripple of the leaf adds dimension, the many shades of the yellows and oranges.

A magical world exists close to the earth.

Filed Under: Nature Explorations, Photography Tagged With: ,
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