southern Arizona

Vintage Golden Poppy

February 26, 2012 by Bo Mackison 5 Comments

There are times in our lives when too many voices seem to be pulling us this way and that. We can seek silence and order within. Then we will hear the truth. ~ Osho

I’ve been in a wild and whirling space the past few days. So much to do, not enough time. Too many shoulds listed on my to do list, and I am ignoring them. The script rushing through my mind sounds like it was written by a convention of gremlins, intent on keeping me on the practical path. Except I am not one who appreciates the practical as much as I appreciate the spur of the moment, the adventure, the explore, but on my terms. I love the adventure but I like to have my feet firmly on the ground, adventuring in safety perhaps. Are those two incongruous? Adventure and safety?

I don’t think so. I like to have a little planning in my explores. Maybe I head west not knowing exactly where it is I am going, but I have a list of three or four places that are possible destinations. I am not one to travel the open road without some idea of where I am. But I also like to leave my schedule open enough to accommodate the serendipitous meeting, the landscape I just have to get to know more intimately, a town that demands more than a cursory visit.

I have been having many conversations with myself. These talks invariably consist of what should I be doing. Now? A month from now? A year? What plans do I have for exhibiting my photography? Where am I going with my art? What path should I follow? As a wise person once told me, “You can’t just sit in an arroyo and watch the poppies bloom.”

Currently I have two of my photographs in an art exhibit at University Hospitals in Madison, Wisconsin. I have another photograph accepted for an exhibit in March and April, an exhibit called Beyond the Lens at the Tubac Center for the Arts in Tubac, Arizona. I do freelance photography, shooting interiors and exteriors of living spaces. My art fair and festival schedule is slowly taking shape. I’ll be at Tucson’s Fourth Avenue Street Fair in March and I have Midwest art festivals on my calendar from May through September, and adding more each week as the notifications come in. And I photograph and work on my photographs – editing, post-processing, printing, matting, framing – 50+ hours a week.

The conference of my gremlins settled on a conclusion – they want me to expand my photographic repertoire. Actually, in plain-speak, my gremlins want me to become financially solvent. And then save for retirement. Save for a rainy day. Save for their retirement. All excellent suggestions.

And here I am, feeling quite the contrarian, wanting to return to the lovely arroyo to see the poppies again. Maybe I can go sit there and re-think my business plan WHILE watching the poppies grow.

A compromise?

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. If you need to find Bo today, she’s sitting on a rock in an arroyo in the Tucson Mountains, and talking to the poppies about life goals.

Filed Under: Photography, Travel Tagged With: Arizona, Bo Mackison photographer, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, color, desert flowers, macro-photography, National Parks, nature, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, quotations, Seeded Earth Photography, Sonoran Desert, southern Arizona, Southwest

Four Views of the Desert Brittlebush

February 25, 2012 by Bo Mackison 6 Comments

I walked in the desert often these last days, preferably alone, and looked lovingly at my brittle-bush, my fine beds of desert holly, my border of paper daisies and desert marigolds. Here, tended by unseen hands, are plants equal to any in a botanical garden. They seemed to flourish for me alone, just as the birds seemed to sing for me alone. There was no one else to see them, just as there was no one else to hear the birds sing.

~ Olga Wright Smith in Gold on the Desert

Brittlebush is one of the old standbys in the Sonoran Desert. It is drought resistant and blooms when there has been little rainy weather. But it is even more spectacular when Mother Nature sends rain. Brittlebush is common and easy to find wherever one looks in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. At the foot of an organ pipe or saguaro cactus, spreading upwards to add mounds of yellow color on mountain sides road sides and along the dry arroyas.

Ajo Mountain in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

The brittlebush is now a popular plant even in the city, as its characteristics lend themselves well to the xeriscaped (natural) landscapes in the arid Southwest. But it looks might fine to me, adding splashes of yellow to the green desert.

It is used in rites and rituals throughout the region and was once was burned as incense in many churches across the border in Mexico. The substance exuded from the stems were used as a chewing gum, and at one time it was even exported to Europe, sent by the Spanish mission priests. The Tohono O’odham continue to use the brittlebush as a source of gum.

The brittlebush has an interesting defense system. It exudes a compound from its leaves and when these chemicals are washed onto the surrounding gravelly soil, it lessens other plants’ abilities to germinate. This gives the brittlebush less competition and more resources for survival.

Brittlebush has a long history of names since it was a common plant used by the Tohono O’odham, the Spanish priests, and the (mostly English) pioneers. Besides the common name of Brittlebush, it has been called Golden Hills, rama blanca (white branch), incienso (incense), hierba de las animas (herb of the souls), hierba del bazo (spleen-herb), and hierba ceniza (gray herb).

I rather like the name hierba de las animas. Has a mystical sound to it — these yellow flowers charged with the care of souls.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She photographed these flowers at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, and there are still many more photographs of other desert flowers to share.

Filed Under: Photography Tagged With: Ajo Arizona, Ajo Mountain, Arizona, cactus, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, desert, desert flowers, Desert Marigold, National Parks, Olga Wright Smith, organ pipe cactus, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, quotation about desert, saguaro, Sonoran Desert, southern Arizona, Southwest, US Southwest

Ocotillo Birds?

February 23, 2012 by Bo Mackison 3 Comments

Creativity is the natural order of life. Life is energy; pure creative energy. ~ Julia Cameron

I watched this ocotillo for quite a while. Long enough that its long spindly branches quivered with the breezes. Every time the ocotillo shook, the red flowers at the very ends of the stalks reminded me of baby birds, their beaks open wide, begging for food from their Mama.

I laughed and laughed and laughed. Who knew the desert had such a honed sense of humor?

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She laughs with the desert, in the desert.

Filed Under: Photography Tagged With: Arizona, birds' beaks, Bo Mackison photographer, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, National Parks, nature, ocotillo, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Photography, Seeded Earth Photography, Sonoran Desert, southern Arizona, Southwest

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Bloom

February 22, 2012 by Bo Mackison 5 Comments

It’s not often that one can’t see the many cacti in the Sonoran Desert because of blossoming flowers and shrubs.. But this spring one can truly say “Can’t see the cacti for the flowers.”

Park Rangers say that a rainy November and December, followed by a warmer than average January set up the National Monument for a potentially good Spring for desert blossoms. Then two days of soaking rain, each delivering 3/10ths of an inch of moisture, made the flowers pop!

The Palo Verde trees were turning yellow with flowers. The mesquite and brittlebush shrubs looked less like shrubs and more like yellow balls of blossoms. And the flowering plants — desert senna, desert marigolds, Mexican golden poppies, lupine, orange mallow, chuparosa, desert chicory — added shades of yellow, orange, purple and white to complete the transformation of the desert from cacti to layers of floral colors and greenery.

What a difference from the desert I fell for in 2011. Not knowing any better, I loved the Sonoran Desert a year ago, even though the desert had first experienced a plant-threatening frost in early February, then a prolonged drought throughout the spring and summer.

Last year, when I visited Organ Pipe for the first time, I asked the Park Rangers if there were any flowers in bloom. They looked at me as if I had just stepped off the bus from the far North. Well, they were close in their assessment. I had just driven to Arizona from the snow-bound Midwest, and I was enthralled with the desert blue skies and warm temperatures.

But no, they explained in particularly patient voices, there were no flowers in the desert right then. The desert was wearing mostly brown and drab green last year. The cacti maintained their greenish colors, but last year the desert scape was quite desolate. . . and brown. Except, I didn’t know just how desolate it was until I saw the Sonoran Desert a few days ago. I could barely contain my excitement with the lush growth, the bright colors, the layers upon layers of textures and life.

Well, truthfully, I didn’t contain my enthusiasm. Not one tiny bit. I was like a kid in a candy shop, going from bush to flower to tree with increasing joy. Everywhere I looked — flowers, flowers, and more flowers! It was almost beyond my understanding. I fell even more in love with this lush, vibrant desert.

Wow!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She just returned from a visit to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and has more than 700 photos to sort through and process. Bo will be sharing photos of this gloriously blooming desert for quite a few blog posts..

Filed Under: Photography, Travel Tagged With: Ajo Arizona, Arizona, Bo Mackison photographer, cactus, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, color, National Parks, nature, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Photography, Seeded Earth Photography, Sonoran Desert, southern Arizona, Southwest

Cactus Sprout

February 19, 2012 by Bo Mackison 5 Comments

Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself. ~ Herman Hesse

It has been a quiet weekend. There was time for retreat and quiet and there were other times I spent in research, setting some short term goals and a few long term goals, gathering resources.

I wanted to share this lovely cactus, all rosy in its new growth. These cacti appear to be such simple plants – a long column, lots of thorny spines and a few arms. But upon close examination, I find them to be exquisitely intricate in a quiet way. I enjoyed photographing this particular species, it was a good plant to work with this weekend.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. More slow photography on an intentionally slowed-down weekend. Activity will pick up as the week progresses.

Filed Under: Photography Tagged With: Arizona, Bo Mackison photographer, cactus, cactus spines, Canon EOS 5D Mark II, macro-photography, nature, Seeded Earth Photography, Sonoran Desert, southern Arizona, Southwest, Tohono Chul Park, Tucson Arizona, US Southwest

Vintage Golden Poppy

Four Views of the Desert Brittlebush

Ocotillo Birds?

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Bloom

Cactus Sprout

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