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.

The Whole Bean AKA Cloud Gate

The Whole Bean

The Whole Bean ©2012 Bo Mackison

Cloud Gate

Cloud Gate, a public sculpture by artist Anish Kapoor, is the centerpiece of the AT&T Plaza in Millennium Park. The sculpture is constructed using hundreds of sheets of stainless steel, but the exterior has no visible seams. As seen in the photo, it is a wildly popular attraction for visitors – Chicagoan and tourist – all with some form of camera for this super-fun photo-op.

I saw DSLRs, point and shoots, even a couple of iPads as camera, but most plentiful were the phone cameras held aloft by almost everyone.

I walked around the sculpture, and I had to take the requisite number of photos, including ones with the city backdrop of skyscrapers as the sun was setting, ones with the skyscrapers reflected on The Bean’s surface, a few more when the city streetlights popped on, and a couple with a tiny crescent moon in the background.

But I forgot to bring my evening dress including date in white evening coat, or my sixteen member bridal party, or my teeny-tiny Halloween costume. I’ll have to be satisfied with my photo in faded jeans and a Packers tee-shirt.

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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.

The Bliss of Falling Leaves

Falling Leaves

Falling Leaves ©2012 Bo Mackison

Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering to the ground. ~ Emily Bronte

Falling Leaves

This has been a wonderfully bright and colorful autumn. The trees held tightly to their leaves longer than usual, giving me plenty of opportunity and  time to photograph autumn color before all of the falling leaves left only bare branches.

I have always had a special affinity with autumn, loving the trees and their layers of colors, loving the crisp, cool evenings in fall after a summer of sticky, humid nights, even loving the annual raking event we always had on a weekend in late October.

Blog Anniversary Winner

I celebrated the 5th anniversary of Seeded Earth Studio’s blog a few days ago, and offered a give away, a photograph, to one of my blog visitors who left a comment on the blog birthday post.  I said I would pick and announce the winner on my birthday, and so the day has come. There were 20 comments. I used a random number generator from the internet to choose a number.

And that number is: #10.

Counting the comments, the winner is #10 — ta-da — Susan Vial.

Congratulations, Susan. I’ll be contacting you very soon, as soon as I return from my Chicago Adventure! Sweet!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  She is attending the Filter Photo Festival in Chicago the week of October 15.  Bo will be blogging about her conference experience – workshops, lecture series, gallery walks, portfolio reviews, and much more. 🙂

Blue Skies, Yellow Trees

Autumn Trail ©2012 Bo Mackison

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” ~ George Eliot

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

Autumn Hike in Wisconsin

Autumn Walk XI

Let’s Take an Autumn Walk ©2012 Bo Mackison

A Colorful Autumn Hike in Wisconsin

One of the urban parks in Madison, Wisconsin – Owen Conservation Park – has a maze of hiking trails. There are dozens of paths, views of the city, prairie remnants, trails through hardwood forests, and a small pond for water fowl. The park seems specially designed for a colorful hike in autumn.

Autumn Walk VII

View Across the Prairie ©2012 Bo Mackison

Prairie view. Most of the golden-rods and asters – the last blooms in autumn – have now gone to seed. The prairie is filled with fluffs of white blowing seeds.

Autumn Walk III

Autumn Colors in the Woods ©2012 Bo Mackison

The forests, though small, have a fine variety of hardwoods. Maples, oaks, hickory are the predominant species, and together produce a fine color mix of yellows, oranges, reds and browns.

Autumn Walk XII

Leafy Shadows in Autumn ©2012 Bo Mackison

I love to hike when the sun is still low enough in the morning to cast leafy shadows on the tree trunks in the more open spaces.

Autumn Walk VI

Reds and Yellows in Autumn ©2012 Bo Mackison

Sumacs give the park’s open spaces a deep red glow. More whites in the prairie — fluffy seeds. Yellow ashes still have some of their leaves.

Autumn Walk V

Autumn Walk in the Forest ©2012 Bo Mackison

Another path through the woods and I’m back to the parking area.

Autumn Walk I

Owen Park Road ©2012 Bo Mackison

Even while leaving the park, there are so many trees in bright colors. I pulled along the side of the road a half-dozen times for that “one last shot.”

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Thankful for the opportunity for a nature walk today.

She is attending the Filter Festival in Chicago the week of October 15. Workshops, lecture series, gallery walks, portfolio reviews, and much more. But no opportunities for walks in the autumn woods.