The Essence of Place – Defined

February 4, 2014 by 3 Comments
Palo Dura Canyon

Palo Dura Canyon Abstract © 2014 Bo Mackison

The Essence of Place, Defined

Essence of Place: A limited selection of photographs that, when combined, offer a unique glimpse into a place. The mood or emotion portrayed in the place is emphasized, and included are elements that are unique to the area. People also can be included to illustrate culture or connection.

Abstract. An abstract uses form, texture and color. Emphasis is more on the composition and less on the subject.

Landscape:  The term landscape represents a segment of nature from a single point of view. It encompasses land, and can also include animals, buildings, and people.

Intimate Landscape: Photographs typically do not include a horizon line, or when the horizon is present, conveys only a hint of where the image is photographed. The grandeur of nature is captured in a smaller space. Less is more.

Still Life: A photo which depicts inanimate subjects. Includes common objects in nature, such as rocks, sticks, leaves. Simplicity is key.

Macro-Photography: A close-up image of a subject. Technically, the image is at a 1:1 ratio (life-size) or larger, magnified up to 5 times the life-size image.

Wabi-Sabi: “A Japanese aesthetic of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete…” ~ Leonard Koren. Includes objects connected to the earth: rustic materials, rich in raw texture; effects of weathering and aging by sun, wind, heat, cold; rusty, tarnished, warped, cracked or peeling surfaces; faded colors, muddy tones, or grays/blacks; simple, yet poetic. (source: Leonard Koren)

Combinations are also possible, such as:

Intimate landscape + portrait: A portrait of a person or animal which includes landscape to provide a context for the subject, or defines a landscape by contrasting the human perspective in a natural setting.

To capture the essence of place, I did some basic research and pulled key words and concepts for which the region is particularly noted.

Here are my notes:

Palo Duro means “hard wood”. Southern high plains. Rim of canyon is shortgrass prairie, canyon floor has more trees, shrubs, tall grasses. Canyon is 800 feet deep, formed by erosion from Prairie Dog Town Fork of Red River. Rock layers of gypsum (white) and claystone (red) and is called “Spanish skirts”. “Grand Canyon of Texas” – second largest canyon in US. Erosion shaped lands, caps of erosion resistant sandstone creating mesas, pinnacles, buttes.

Landscapes:

P4141510

Palo Duro Canyon © 2014 Bo Mackison

Palo Duro Canyon

“Spanish Skirts” © 2010 Bo Mackison

P4141433

Prairie Dog Town Fork of Red River  © 2014 Bo Mackison

Intimate Landscape:

Palo Dura Canyon

Juniper Tree in Red Canyon © 2014 Bo Mackison

Intimate Landscape + Portrait:

Palo Dura Canyon

Karate Chop © 2014 Bo Mackison

Macro.

P4141459

Yucca Seed Heads © 2014 Bo Mackison

Still life.

Palo Dura Canyon

Red Earth © 2014 Bo Mackison

Wabi sabi.

P4141389

Twisted Wood © 2014 Bo Mackison

 

 

 

Filed Under: Nature Explorations, Photography Tagged With: , , ,

Yucca Abstract – A Photograph in Canyon Colors

January 25, 2014 by 2 Comments
Palo Dura Canyon

Yucca in Canyon © 2014 Bo Mackison

While curating my photographs from a visit to Palo Dura Canyon State Park in west Texas, I rediscovered a photo of this yucca growing in the red dirt of the canyon floor. I liked the lines and composition of the sword yucca, but the colors in the original photo were dull and the wisps of thready fibers faded into the narrow spikes.

By highlighting the colors and adding a gray neutral to make the wispy threads stand out, the yucca comes to life.

 

Filed Under: Creativity, Photography Tagged With: , , , ,

5th Annual Photo Alphabet – Part IV

December 29, 2012 by 10 Comments

N is for Nature and Non-attachment

Nature's Abstract

Nature’s Pattern © 2012 Bo Mackison

Even though I photograph almost any subject, I spend as much time as I can in the natural world and take a greater percentage of nature subjects than any other. I also like to play with nature photos, especially macro-photographs such as the above barrel cactus. I loved the symmetry emphasized with a black and white conversion.

Not only do I love to photograph desert plants, I love learning about them. I find their various ways of adapting to their environment fascinating. In order to survive, they have an extensive system of spiny protrusions and other such things to dissuade potential munchers.

I’ve been working on the idea of non-attachment – the idea that too much attachment for a specific outcome can cause difficulties. And I was thinking that the cactus is the perfect symbol for non-attachment. Oh, yeah!

O is for Observation and Opportunity.

Observation Deck above Buttermilk Falls

Observation Deck above Buttermilk Falls © 2010 Bo Mackison

These “O” words speak deeply to me about photography – my photography and photography in general.

Observation is so key to photography that it is almost too obvious to include in an alphabet like this. Observational skills are honed in the search for a photograph. That is not to say that a camera to required to polish observational skills, but a camera becomes a constant reminder to look around, to see beyond the initial glance. I consider my camera a great prop, an observation kick-starter.

Opportunity is another one of those obvious words that partner well with photography. Some people take photographs at special occasions (or opportunities) – a vacation, a holiday, an annual gathering, a perfect sunset. But opportunity is more about “being” there for the experience of the photograph rather than “finding” a photographic subject.

Any subject is a subject worthy of photographic exercise. I’ve photographed more walls than I would once have thought possible, or sane. Yes, walls. Wall with shadows, walls with texture, walls with vines, walls of adobe, brick, stone, historical walls in ruins. (Maybe I should copy and paste this under “W”!)

I’ve also taken thousands of photographs of trees. Recently I realized that there is some form of tree – perhaps a branch, a shadow, a leaf – in a large percentage of my photos. I didn’t start with the intent to photograph trees in such depth, but it seems the trees found me. Or perhaps I’ve never met a tree I didn’t like, one I didn’t think worthy of a tree portrait.

I’m not saying that I don’t take advantage of a photographic opportunity that comes my way. I carry a camera almost all the time – whether I’m going across country, across the city, or across the parking lot. You don’t have to wait for a special opportunity for a photograph; opportunity will find you if you’re paying attention.

P is for Perspective and Place.

The Long Road

Disappearing Road © 2012 Bo Mackison

And then there is the perspective of a lonely, open road at dusk. This is a photograph of a Texas panhandle highway. Telephone poles, grain elevators, semi-trucks, and a Texas Highway sign. It’s all about place. And perspective.

Q is for Questions and Quotations.

Badlands-There's a Trail up There!

Mountain Trail © 2011 Bo Mackison

I sometimes take photographs to find the answers to questions I am pondering. Sometimes I take photographs to put the questions I don’t know how to ask into a concrete form. And sometimes I take photographs because I have questions that don’t have answers.

When I begin to write a blog post, and I have a photograph I want to share, I sometimes don’t have the words to accompany the photo. There is a meaning in the photo, but it’s not easily seen. So I go searching through my many dozens of unorganized journals for a relevant quotation. It seldom takes me more than a few minutes to find a quote that says exactly what I was struggling to say.

Here is one such photograph, and the quote I found to pair it with:

There are hundreds of paths up the mountain,
all leading in the same direction,
so it doesn’t matter which path you take.
The only one wasting time is the one
who runs around and around the mountain,
telling everyone that his or her path is wrong.

~ Hindu teaching

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Part V of the Annual Photo Alphabet continues with  Rituals thru Universe.

 

 

Filed Under: Art of Healing, Photography, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tucumcari Tonite

November 24, 2012 by 6 Comments
Tucumcari Tonite - Historic Route 66

Tucumcari Tonite ©2012 Bo Mackison

The world is a country which nobody ever yet knew by description; one must travel through it one’s self to be acquainted with it. ~ Lord Chesterfield

Day 1 Part 2. The travel notes continue:

We note the differences between Iowa/Illinois and Missouri. Missouri has fewer corn fields. It looks scrubbier, homes are smaller. The land is undulating, like Iowa – gentle hills, lots of stands of old trees, mostly oaks.  There are more horses, fewer cattle and no dairy farms. The barns are used less for protection of animals, more for storage of grains. They are open and often have several lean-to sheds propped against their exterior walls.

Passing Hamilton MO, boyhood home of J C Penney. Hmmm.

Sunlight streams though the stand of oak, all is a rich golden brown in the low sunlight. They look like shimmering cinnamon sticks.

Cameron MO. Gas is $3.07. We finally get on an interstate to make faster time. I-35.

Passing ENCHANTED FROG ANTIQUES. Looked interesting, but not open. Wonder how it got its name?

First time we see gas for less than three dollars a gallon. $2.99 at Exit 40. Why is gas always cheapest around Kansas City area? — we notice this every time we pass through.

Head into Kansas City, MO at 8 am.

Crossing the Missouri River – managed a few photos of the overhead structure of the bridge. The HISTORIC IMPERIAL BREWERY BUILDING is for sale. It has style, bet it was a real beauty, back in its heyday.

Fishing Creek
Turkey Creek
Missouri River

Kansas state line. 34 degrees and sunny as we leave Kansas City, KS. 8:30 am.

Entering the Flint Hills of Kansas. There is a National Geographic spread — 22 pages – on the Flint Hills in its April 07 issue. So the sign says.

Bull Creek
Wolf Creek
Ottawa Creek
Marias de Cinega
Tequa Creek

Kansas compared to western Missouri? Flatter lands, still shrubby. Farms have fewer barns and store more of their equipment and larger household appliances outside. Oil wells – the ones that stand about 8 feet tall – pump in many fields.

Speed limit has gradually increased from 55 in Wisconsin to 65 in Iowa to 70 in Missouri and now it is 75 mph.

The woods are oak, hickory, sycamore. Only an occasional evergreen tree or shrub.

Rock Creek
Coal Creek
Long Creek
Frog Creek
Badger Creek

Why is Marion, KS called the Rhino Capitol of the World?

Stopped at the Tall Grass Prairie National Wildlife Refuge. There is a nearby bed and breakfast, CLOVER CLIFF RANCH. I would like to stay here for a few nights. What a great setting, looks like a great ranch!

Long trains are now frequent. Freight cars pulled and pushed by 4 to 6 engines.

Landscape is mostly grasslands. Fewer stands of trees. Most of the trees we see were planted for windbreaks around ranches and farms.

Emporia KS is the Founding City of Veterans Day. It is a good place for historic buildings, too. Historic district.

Past Emporia, the tenor of the land is drier, colorless. Many shades of brown, but the rich soil is a deep black. The landscape is offset only by a pale blue sky. Most of the land is for grazing. The buildings are built close to the ground – earth huggers – a good idea in this tornado and blizzard belt.

There is an underground salt mine in Hutchinson KS. Hutchinson is called the “Salt City.” It also has a rescue/adoption program for wild mustangs. Gas is $3.21.

Cow Creek
Ninnescah River
Arkansas River

Only scattered farms. Lots of solitude to be found in western Kansas. Still very dry.

Crooked Creek (dry)
Cimarron Creek (dry)
Pony River (dry)
Beaver River (dry)

Now we are in Oklahoma, crossing just a snippet of its Panhandle. It looks like southwestern Kansas – not a surprise. There is sage brush, dried grasses. And the feed lots – which always make me fret over my decision not to be a strict vegetarian.

Now we are in Texas. We are crossing a bit of this state’s Panhandle, too. Gas is $3.27 a gallon in Dalhart, Texas.

We arrive in Tucumcari and find a hotel, order carry-out for supper. It is 5:45 pm.

On out first travel day, designed to be long on driving while we are both fresh, we traveled 14 hours and drove 863 miles.

Tomorrow we arrive in Albuquerque early, and take time off for exploring, before the last leg of our journey.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She loves to document facts and trivia in her travel journals when traveling cross country.

 

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