Poppies in the Desert

Golden Desert Poppies

Desert Poppies © 2013 Bo Mackison

Notice how present a flower is, how surrendered to life. ~ Eckhart Tolle  

It is a beautiful place, the desert.

I never realized its fullness of life, its diversity
until daily I walked its paths,
treading on mountain peaks lightly frosted in mid winter
climbing in its washes torn asunder by summer’s flash floods.

Walking its rocky trails, aware of each footfall,
threading my way through a maze of deep crevices in the earth.

Reaching towards a saguaro to steady my bearings
only to pull back in mild alarm
imagining my hand pierced with the thorns of a saguaro.

Standing in its washes in spring, yes the desert has its seasons,
admiring the waving yellow poppies, their throats flushed with red,
their roots grounded in a chaos of rock and grit,
their silken petals a delicate offering amidst so much ruggedness.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She repeatedly discovers inspiration in the desert.

Attentiveness

Hanging On

Hanging On © 2013 Bo Mackison

“Ten times a day something happens to me like this – some strengthening throb of amazement – some good sweet empathic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.” ~ Mary Oliver

Journal Reflections

A walk in the desert and I experience that same throb, a sense of wonder repeatedly. Walking in the desert is not exercise for my body – I hardly take a step before I stop to listen and look – but exercise for my mind, my soul, my spirit. I hike far enough so that I am there, alone. Only the music of the coyote song or cactus wren accompany my breathing and the racing of my heart.

I discovered something about my photographic habits a couple of weeks ago. Whenever I see something I want to photograph, I ready my camera settings and raise the viewfinder to my eye. If I see what I anticipated, I trill in excitement. Something like “oh, oh, oh” — always in triplicate. I do it without thought. When I hear my unexpected little song, I laugh.

So the coyote, the cactus wren, and the camera lady — we sing together in the desert.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is exploring creative photography. poetry, and emotion in a new series featuring desert botanicals.

Gates to the Orchard

Vintage Orchard at Tumacacori

Vintage Orchard at Tumacacori @2012 Bo Mackison

A man does not plant a tree for himself, he plants it for posterity. ~ Alexander Smith

In 2004, Tumacácori National Historical Park acquired adjacent property to the park, including  the original 5-acre mission orchard and a portion of agricultural area, and their goal was to replant the Spanish Mission Era orchard and garden.

They decided to use fruit tree stocks (cultivars) traced to those introduced to that area in the late 17th and early 18th centuries by the Jesuits and those introduced a century later by the Franciscans.

Mission Gate at Tumacacori National Historic Site

Mission Gate at Tumacacori National Historic Park ©2012 Bo Mackison

Though I can find no written information on this gate, the Park Ranger I spoke with said the gate had been newly erected. Built by a local metal works craftsman after much research, the gate is in the Mission style of the 18th century and thought to be similar to the original.

Gate to Vintage Orchard at Tumacacori National Historic Site

Gate to Vintage Orchard at Tumacacori and Beyond ©2012 Bo Mackison

“Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.”  – Hermann Hesse, Wandering

The orchard can be seen beyond the vine-covered gate. It’s a lovely space, near the Santa Cruz River and the ten thousand foot forested mountains in the Coronado National Forest. On the far eastern edge of the historic site, there are a few benches for some quiet time in a pastoral setting.

After days of hiking in the more rugged canyons of the nearby deserts and mountains, I found the orchard a place filled with an orderliness with a purpose. It was a different kind of space, yes, but the perfect interlude and space for reflection and writing.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is grateful that there is a time and place for quiet meditation, sitting by an orchard in the shade of the mountains.

 

Whole against the Sky

Fruit and Bokeh

Fruit and Bokeh ©2012 Bo Mackison

Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue, a wonderful living side by side can grow, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

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I find November the most difficult of months. So I bring my camera with me, and focus on shooting a bit of cheerfulness, a bit of color, a pleasing composition – it cheers me and sustains me.

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

Under The Bean

Under the Bean

Under the Bean ©2012 Bo Mackison

The artist can truly understand surface forms only by knowing their underlying structures; their form and behavior under tension, stress, and activity. In a sense, the why of what is. – Ian Mack

This quote seems to be written for this wonderful piece of sculpture, Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor. This is an amazing piece of sculpture, and one where the design required not only knowledge of the internal tensions and stresses of the structure and its form.

I keep imagining that there are just as many behaviors under tension, stress and activity in the exterior space surrounding The Bean.

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

She recently returned from a week at the Filter Photo Festival in Chicago. A week filled with workshops, lectures, gallery walks, portfolio reviews, and a photo-walk to Millennium Park to say hello to The Bean.