Arizona Sycamores at Montezuma Castle National Monument – The Trees and Me!

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Portrait with Arizona Sycamores © 2014 Bo Mackison

It’s not often that I post a photo of me. I am the one with the camera in hand and haven’t much embraced the practice of selfies. So I am seldom in a photo, and happy enough to be the one behind the camera.

But these trees — these Arizona sycamore trees were not only calling to me, they were singing my name! They were insistent. “Sit on my perfect little tree nook and smile for the camera.” And so I did.

Aren’t those trees magnificent? I can never resist running my hands along their bark, connecting the many puzzle pieces I see.

I am honored to have had my portrait taken in the midst of such grand company!

A Desert Portrait in Still Life – Poetry Revisited

Nature’s Abstract © 2013 Bo Mackison

We have what we seek. It is there all the time, and if we give it time it will make itself known to us. ~ Thomas Merton

While searching my blog for information on my Desert Wisdom Cards, I came across a poem I wrote about a year ago. It was called A Still Life in the Desert. I read it and thought how differently I would write the same poem today. How little things have changed in my world, gradually adding up to bigger changes, to living life in a direction I could not have imagined a year ago.

Different focuses, different goals, even different ways of seeing the same thing. And so I did a re-write. Here is the second iteration of this desert poem.

A Desert Portrait in Still Life

I am…

intertwined cactus spines
complex protective patterns
mysterious yet beautiful.

I am…

a pulled back curtain
a crazy quilt, fantastically embroidered
an unlocked trunk.

I am…

a cloud of red dust
tumbleweed dancing
a desert basin, easy on the wanderer’s eye.

I am…

a beloved assemblage of photographs
a deck of desert wisdom cards
poetry scribbled on scraps of paper.

I am…

idea incubator
questions and work-arounds
prayers of gratitude.

I am…

pulp, photographs, a hawk milagro
inked letter press
the alphabet in my hand.

 

Tuba Reflection – A Self Portrait

Self Portrait in Tuba Reflection

Tuba Reflection – Self Portrait ©2013 Bo Mackison

We keep on moving forward, opening new doors and doing new things because we are curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. ~ Walt Disney

 

The Main Street Philharmonic Marching Band.
Cardinal-red band uniforms, gold epaulets,
Shakos with white plumes.

A blue sky-fluffy cloud kind of day.
A tarnished tuba.
Sousa’s Fairest of the Fair.

Fantasy Land.
Where dreams come true, but still require hard work.

There’s always a new path to follow.
Explorations and adventures.

Take a photograph of the silver tuba,
and the photographer and her camera
shine in the reflection.

————–

Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Magical photos happen in magical places.

Self Portrait of an Artist

Three Self Portraits

Self Portraits © 2012 Bo Mackison

Be faithful to that which exists within yourself. ~ Andre Gide

PART III – ART SHOW

I slept fitfully the night before the art festival’s opening. Perhaps subconsciously I was afraid I would oversleep and be late for my show. Not a chance! At 2 am, I finally got up and wrote a list of everything I needed to take to Tubac with me. Only then did I sleep until the alarm startled me awake.

I did a hurry-up-get-ready, packed the car, and headed east. It was a cloudy morning, unusually cloudy for southern Arizona, and the new day’s light was slowly filling the valley.

I looked towards the Santa Rita mountain range in the east and the clouds broke ever so slightly. I saw a bright rim of red break through and settle above the peak of Mount Wrightson. A flash of beauty. As quickly as the color appeared, it disappeared. It was a lovely good morning salute from the sun and a good omen for the day!

Getting the booth readied for first day of the show was quite exhilarating. Other artists bustled about, opening their tents, arranging their art while greeting other artists, friends, old acquaintances. Both of my neighbors arrived and we chatted about the day as we readied our booths.

I hung my art on the panels. Each finished photograph brought a smile to my face. Out of the thousands of photographs I’ve taken, here were the eighteen finished pieces I had chosen and readied to hang on my temporary gallery wall. Primary colored macro botanicals from the Midwest filled one side of the booth; bright desert flowers and cacti filled the other side.

Seeded Earth Studio was a gallery of bold color and textures, a gallery filled with nature’s promise and beauty.

I finally finished with the pre-show organizing, and stepped into the street. I watched the other artists for a few moments and I didn’t try to contain my excitement. It was a wonderful sight. With only a few minutes left before the opening of this five-day show, I could see artists wearing their different cloaks, some with expectancy and hopefulness, some showing pride in their work. Others looked at the sky as the sun broke through the clouds and lit up the town, and smiled, grateful for the beginning of a beautiful day in the desert. A sense of camaraderie was in the air.

I was in their midst. I stood in my art booth, mindful that I was a part of the whole. I had done the work, I was ready to begin the day.

It was a glorious feeling.

——————

Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is discovering that every day provides opportunities to learn new and amazing things. And she is discovering that as she learns to do amazing things, the world becomes a glorious place.

Barely Focused

Self-Portrait in Metaphor

Self-Portrait in Metaphor

Do other photographers take photographs like this?

Barely aware, do you find in your photograph downloads that there are a few photos that seem to be the sum of who you are at that moment? Not really self-portraits, no people in those photos, but self-portraits nonetheless.

Maybe I’m mixing my poetry writing years with my photography years. 

So, can photographs be metaphors? My answer is yes.