Saguaro National Park

6th Annual Photo Alphabet – An Exploration of 2013 – Arizona to Dreams

December 26, 2013 by Bo Mackison 14 Comments

Welcome to my Holiday Tradition – my Annual Photo Alphabet.

Today I begin posting my photo alphabet in six parts, culminating on December 31st — just in time to welcome the New Year 2014!

Please join me during the next 6 days as I explore adventures, travel, learning, and change in 2013.

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A is for Arizona and Arroyos.

Hello, Arizona. My adopted state.

When I first visited Arizona, I stayed a week. It only took seven days for me to fall madly in love with the desert. The second year I rented a condo for 8 weeks — my “Bo goes Solo” experience — the first time I’d lived on my own since my college days. The third year I joined the Snowbird Migration, and Sherpa and I made Quail Condo our very own.

There are dozens of reasons I love our casita in Arizona.

The sunshine is a major factor. I have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and now I enjoy the winter months instead of braving my way through cloudy winters and even cloudier moods. I love the arroyo in my backyard – wild and thick with cacti, mesquite, and acacias.

There are always birds in the trees and at the feeders – several kinds of hummingbirds, orioles, tanagers, vermillion flycatchers, woodpeckers. Gambel’s quails scramble on the ground, rushing from one bit of cover to the next. Occasionally a road runner struts past.

Coyote and bobcats prowl in the early morning hours. I’ve even had a javelina – a kind of wild pig – poke its nose onto my porch, sniffing for a handout, although I let him know he was not invited to dinner!

And most of all, I love hiking in the nearby Sonoran Desert, camera and journal in hand. Exploring, Listening. Connecting.

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B is for Bridge.

Bridges are connections.

Some days they are shrouded in fog. The iron trusses may be slick with ice. Some of the wooden planks may be missing, or weakened. But when the goal you want to reach is on the opposite shore, it’s time to assess the risk associated with crossing the bridge.

Life stories are bridges, too.

They connect the past with the present and affect the future. I can choose to let my past affect my choices, the risks I am willing to take, the work I accept. Or I can test the bridge, take each step with caution, but maintain forward movement.

My favorite message from this particular bridge photograph is this — even if you can see land on other side, there are no guarantees that what you think you see is what you see. The fog is a reminder that, clear or foggy, we travel across many bridges, and life does not adhere to rigid plans, no matter how well scheduled or executed.

Surprises – such as fog on the bridge – add an element of wonder, challenge, and plenty of opportunity for serendipity!

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C is for Changes, Choices, and Celebration

Don’t you love this vintage seismograph station?

It is located in the heart of Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California. Although this 90-year-old station has been replaced by a more modern facility, the building stands, testimony to those who monitored the volcanic activity in the park around the clock.

The building is tiny, only space enough for the delicate equipment that measured tiny changes in the movement of the earth.

I once had my own internal seismograph equipment.

It was very sensitive, able to detect change in a millisecond. My change detector was a warning system for me. Change! Alarm! Beware!

But change is a constant – there is always change. I now make a conscious choice to embrace change.

I no longer need my own seismograph recorder.

And that is something to celebrate.

Celebrate the present while looking forward to the possibilities of tomorrow. This photo, a close up of autumn’s orange sumac leaves, reminds me of prayer flags, gently waving in the breeze, celebrating the changing of the season.

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D is for Dreams, Details, and Decisions.

I dream in technicolor.

Dreaming is one of my favorite activities, be it night dreaming, lucid dreaming, or day dreaming. Dreaming lets me explore many options, turn them over in my mind, fiddle with the details. Visualize.

When autumn arrives in Wisconsin, it adds new colors to the gardens. I spend mornings walking garden paths, admiring the yellows and oranges. As an added bonus, I always delight in seeing the movable garden art.

I work in the garden surrounded by art and nature.

How inspiring to sit on one of the benches tucked in a quiet space, and journal or photograph the botanicals in the changing season.

I work in the desert surrounded by art and nature, too.

The colors may be different. The desert’s greens and browns still inspire. And often I bring my work and settle in one of the covered shelters scattered throughout Saguaro National Park. These remarkable buildings, built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), provide a shady place for me to set up a temporary desert office.

What a dream come true – taking photographs, writing, and working in the desert.

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Tomorrow’s post: Elephants to Highways.

Filed Under: Creativity, Photography, Writing Practices Tagged With: annual photography alphabet, Arizona, arroyo, bridge, casita, CCC, celebration, change, details, dreams, making decisions, metaphors, Olbrich Gardens, Saguaro National Park

Yipes, Stripes at Saguaro National Park

April 2, 2013 by Bo Mackison 10 Comments

Yipes Stripes, Saguaro National Park Visitor Center

The Red Hills Visitor Center offers information to visitors at Saguaro National Park’s western unit, stands watch over thousands of saguaro cacti on the adjacent mountains, and presents an astounding photo opportunity working with light and dark.

Before I even got my boots dusty of the trails, I spent an hour playing with different camera angles, patterns of light and shadow, and composition. I finally had to stop because first, I did want to go hiking, and second, I was getting darn dizzy!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo discovers beauty and inspiration, even when exploring the light play at Saguaro National Park.

Filed Under: Photography Tagged With: Architecture, Arizona, desert photography, light and shadow, National Parks, Photography, Red Hill Visitor Center, Saguaro National Park, stripes, Tucson Arizona

Early Morning Coffee in the Desert

January 31, 2012 by Bo Mackison 12 Comments

Coffee is real good when you drink it it gives you time to think. It’s a lot more than just a drink; it’s something happening. Not as in hip, but like an event, a place to be, but not like a location, but like somewhere within yourself. It gives you time, but not actual hours or minutes, but a chance to be, like be yourself, and have a second cup. ~ Gertrude Stein

A pitcher of water, a container of ground coffee, a backpacker’s stove with a little fuel canister and a French press coffee cup. That’s a lot of equipment but I find it all to be incredibly important. With the above contraptions and about five minutes of my time, a simply perfect cup of coffee can be had.

I think it a necessary morning ritual after one sleeps in a car wrapped in a sleeping bag with only nose and mouth exposed to air (while ignoring any claustrophobic tendencies.) One should be able to take that first hike at dawn with a full cup of hot coffee for companionship!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is exploring the Sonoran desert and making desert coffee.

Filed Under: Photography, Travel Tagged With: Arizona, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, coffee, coffee and camping, first cup of coffee, making coffee, National Parks, Photography, Saguaro National Park, Southwest, Tucson Arizona

In the Desert – A Journal Writing Discovery

March 13, 2011 by Bo Mackison 17 Comments

The spring flowers are showing a few blossoms. It’s been a quiet season for spring flowers–first there wasn’t enough moisture last autumn and winter and then there was a hard freeze in late January. So these are the first of the flowers I’ve seen. I’ve tentatively identified them as Desert Marigolds. The background is a saguaro cactus.

Now that I’ve been in Arizona a month, I am slowing down my pace a bit. At first, everything I saw was new to me and I carried my camera everywhere. I took hundreds of photos a day. That’s not unusual for me to take that many photos on a shoot, but it’s hard to process that many shots when I’m doing it every day. Plus it makes life too hectic. Still, I want to capture as much of this experience as I can.

I’ve discovered a solution. I add a half hour of quiet observation and nature writing to my day. Today after I took photographs near Saguaro National Park, I pulled into a picnic area that was quite deserted. The picnic sites were built by the CCC in the 1930s; the tables and benches were made of stone and concrete, probably the sturdiest picnic site I’ve ever seen.

I sat on one of the benches and just watched and listened. After awhile I wrote some notes in my journal.

Noon. 84˚F. Sus Picnic Area, Saguaro National Park, Tucson Mountain Unit west of the city.

Bright blue skies, no clouds, slight breeze. Hawks are circling the tops of the mountains, flying from peak to peak. They don’t appear to be hunting, even though they are on the look out for movement in the desert below them. Indeed, it looks like they are riding the wind currents, more like play than work. Dipping, soaring, then they flap their wings, strong strokes. Then they dip, soar, repeat.

I recognize none of the sounds I hear, except, of course, the wind whistling. There’s a persistent yip yip yipping. Occasionally a chee-chee-cheerup-ing. Birds are singing, but they hide in the underbrush. I don’t see any movement on the desert floor. Nothing. Quiet mid-day. The critters are resting, hidden from the heat and the strong sunlight.

More hawks. I recognize the red tailed hawk. Still soaring, except now they are dipping side to side. Several are soaring from the peak of the highest mountain. They dip to the left, glide, dip to the right. Swoosh, right. Swoosh, left. Are they playing? Practicing? Are they hunting and have yet to spy anything interesting?

Maybe they are taking Sunday afternoon off. Ha! It is a lovely Sunday afternoon to appreciate the quiet time.

I myself soar to different places in my mind.

It is a calming activity–this sitting quietly, observing, taking a few notes. I know I look at my surrounding more carefully when I have my camera in my hands, but the camera captures the scenes for me, wordlessly. It is an added plus to document a few words about the places I visit, too. It makes me think about what I am seeing in a new way, and adds another dimension to my discoveries.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is living in Tucson for two months, exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo.” Today she is grateful for all the gifts she has received this past month.

Filed Under: Nature Explorations, Writing Practices Tagged With: Arizona, Desert Marigolds, journal writing, Saguaro National Park, Sus Picnic Area, writing practice

Hiking the Loma Verde Trail in Saguaro National Park

February 27, 2011 by Bo Mackison 14 Comments

The day was a deep blue sky day in Tucson and I was primed for a desert hike. When I asked Mr. Friendly Park Ranger if he would recommend a hiking trail no longer than three miles, please, he smiled a convincing smile and replied, “Well, the best trail in the park is 3.6 miles long, only a half mile more. Wanna try that one?”

It didn’t seem that much longer, so I agreed. He pulled out a map with a few squiggly lines on it. “So,” he said, “if you take the Loma Verde trail head, follow Loma Verde, make a right at Squeeze Pen, a left at Pink Hill, follow the jog right on Loma Verde North and finally a left on Loma Verde South. You’ll be back at the trail head in two hours.”

Two hours? Knowing I had my camera along, I added another hour onto the estimated time. I could manage a three hour hike, out in the desert, by myself. Sure. Why not? It was 11 o’clock. I’d be back at the car by 2:00, 2:30 at the latest. No matter it was the warmest time of the day. The temperature wasn’t supposed to break 70˚ It was the perfect temperature for exploring the desert.

At the trail head, I emptied my camera backpack of all unessential equipment, then added two bottles of water and some trail bars. By the time I’d gathered my hat, hiking stick, and sun glasses, I was past eager, and ready to be on the trail. The sun was dodging in and out of cloud cover, and a mild breeze was blowing. Perfect hiking weather!

I had never hiked this part of Saguaro National Park, and so everything was new and exciting. There was plenty that needed photographing. There were thousands of saguaros begging to be photographed. And the mountains in the background. And the dancing clouds. Heck, I even took photos of the thorns and the bare branches. There is something about all of the elements of the desert that thrills me.

One of my favorite parts of the hike was when I entered this little cholla tree forest. Aren’t they cute? Well, they are cute–unless you get too close to one of them. If you brush against one, they “jump” on you. I carefully kept my distance.

Of course, I got lost. Several times. The trails looked well marked until I was out there with no one else in sight, and the name of the trail I was to follow wasn’t on the trail marker. I turned around more than once. And added another mile and a half to an already long-enough hike.

I wasn’t worried about the extra distance, but I did worry about the time. Rangers close the park gates at five. If they found my car on the Cactus Forest Loop after closing time, they would come looking for me. That wouldn’t do. The last mile and a half I put my camera away (sigh!) and hiked back to the car using fast feet.

It was a simply perfect hike (except for the back tracking parts) and I pulled my car out of the park at 4:30. Plenty of time to spare. Next time, I’ll start earlier and take fewer photographs.

Well, I’ll start earlier. I’ll have to re-think that fewer photographs part!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is living in Tucson for two months, exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo.” She is discovering much more than she ever had anticipated.

Filed Under: Nature Explorations Tagged With: Loma Verde Trail, Rincon Mountains, Saguaro National Park, Tucson