Giving Praise

March 20, 2012 by 6 Comments
Hedgehog Cactus Bloom

Hedgehog Cactus Bloom © 2012 Bo Mackison

Quinn of QuinnCreative awarded me the Versatile Blogger Award. Thank you, Quinn.

Here are the rules for the Versatile Blogger Award:
If you are nominated, you’ve been awarded the Versatile Blogger award.

  • Thank the person who gave you this award.
  • Include a link to their blog.
  • Nominate 15 blogs/bloggers that you follow.
  • Finally, list 7 things about yourself.

Here is my list of Versatile Blogger Awardees. Go visit them and see what they are up to.

Here are a few of the blogs I follow regularly:

Anita’s Photoblog   I’ve been loving Anita’s photographs since I discovered her photo blog many, many moons ago. She has a lovely way of combining flowers and textures to create stunning floral portraits.

The Art of Everyday Wonder Joanna may not have a typical blog (or she may) –she follows her vision and freely makes changes to her blogs when she is inspired. And she is indeed inspired and inspiring — a talented creative (writer, poet, photographer, nature lover…) from Scotland. Wander around her site and you’ll be sure to discover some delights.

Daily Practice  I have been following Marcie’s photo blog for several years, and Marcie faithful to her commitment, posts a photograph each day. She often photographs in her neighborhood where there is an amazing pond that bribes all the most photogenic fowl to visit. I never know when I am going to open the link to Marcie’s blog and gasp in awe at her latest.

Giraffe Head Tree  Debi moved only last week to within walking distance of the coast of North Carolina. She is just getting her camera adjusted to the glories of an Atlantic Ocean sunrise, but she promises to explore up and down the Carolina beaches, camera in hand. I’m joining her via her blog. She’d love to meet anyone else who wants to virtually beach comb with her.

Sue Henry Photography Sue and I met through the connecting world of photo blogs — and then discovered that we had been born in towns within spittin’ distance of each other. Since then, I moved north and Sue moved further south, but we both were bitten by the camera bug, and we share our worlds through our photographs. Sue is able to capture palpable moods in her photography — it’s a treat to look through her photo blog any time.

And here are some blogs/bloggers I have recently discovered.

From the Eyes of Denise Goldberg Denise posts marvelous photographs from the state of Maine. I love seeing what she sees through her lens because Maine seems about as far from Arizona as one can get. Denise is another photographer whose camera has encouraged her to peek into the small places. And I love seeing any and all sorts of small places on her blog.

Here and Now I discovered Gina’s photography since she is participating in a photo study on exploring balance with camera and Kat that I am also doing. I was attracted to the vibrancy of Gina’s photographs the first time I looked at her photo blog, and I always enjoy returning to see what she has posted.

Reflections and Nature  Ahh, photographs filled with bright colors, stunning silhouettes, and new surprises to enjoy at each blog visit. I recently discovered Sandra —  just as I met Gina — doing the challenges in Exploring with a Camera. It seems I am reaping many more benefits from Kat’s practice than just thinking about composition and balance…

Upon Halliburton Hill  Joanna from British Columbia is another “Camera Explorer” and so I have only recently started to visit her blog. If you want to be blown away by colors and abstracts, wow, check out the photographs Joanna posts.

Words and Photographs One more “Camera Explorer” before I run out of space and time — Juli posts the most colorful photographs, I always take a peek at her blog because I know it will bring a smile to my face. She blogs from Canada, and truly, I am surprised each time I visit. Flowers, fruits, shadows, brick walls — I never know what will be there for me to discover, but I love it. And one of my favorite things? Juli has a series called “Drive By’s” – photos she takes from her car while waiting for traffic lights to change. Living in the moment, yes!

Wow! I am going to close by doing one of the speediest lists of 7 about myself (and the photo above) ever:

  1. I love cactus when they are in bloom.
  2. I took the above photo of this orange cactus flower in my front yard.
  3. I took a picture of a hedgehog cactus. (Does it look like a hedge hog?)
  4. As a kid, I grew up playing along the shores of the Mississippi River.
  5. I never once saw a cactus growing near the Mississippi where I played.
  6. I saw lots of poison ivy, though.
  7. I like a cactus with thorns more than I like poison ivy with an itch. 🙂

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC, living and photographing in southern Arizona. She is happy to see that the cactus are beginning to bloom.

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Wilderness is not a Luxury

March 9, 2012 by 7 Comments
Desert Globe Mallow

Desert Globe Mallow © 2012 Bo Mackison

Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of human spirit. ~ Edward Abbey

The desert expands and seeps into my vision,
the floor is ocean, odd twisted creatures,
and the cactus-corals are prescient.

When the ocean — tiding by lunar pull — disappears
the desert returns, a remnant of ancient ocean,
fossil, a testimonial embedded in rock,
geologic band of aquatic life remembered only in stone.

I too will be remembered only in stone.

When I swim too far from the shore of this desert,
stray into the repeating saguaro-ocotillo wilderness,
I stop, afraid to cross the sand arroyo

Descend into this dry bed,
and reach the blooming oranges and yellows that thrive on the edges.
I take my chances, there are times I cannot manage.

Waiting,
shadows are longest when the sun heaves herself
onto the desert floor and again when she
slips off the desert and drops from the horizon.

Even the longest shadows disappear in the
blotting dark of night,
dark skies are coming — no
they are here.

This cold monument to the dark,
desert monolith, see the shooting star emerge from clouds,
momentary, streak of light, I blink and it is gone.
Or was it even there?

I rub creosote leaves between my index finger and thumb,
smell the pungent aroma of preservative,
lie down to rest upon the packing quilt, a U Haul relic,
and wait for the desert to spit her rain.

—————-

Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC, living and photographing in southern Arizona.

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Double Trouble – Mama Feeding Baby Hummingbirds

March 8, 2012 by 7 Comments
Mama Feeding Baby Hummingbirds - Double Trouble

Mama Feeding Baby Hummingbirds - Double Trouble © 2012 Bo Mackison

Spent the morning at the Desert Museum just west of Tucson. I wandered into the Hummingbird Aviary to see if there were any babies. And yes, I did find a pair of Costa’s hummingbird babies that looked as if they were nearly big enough to fledge.

I’m not much of a bird watcher nor a bird photographer, but I couldn’t resist the show these two hummingbird babies put on. The one baby is larger, and kept leaning onto its sibling’s shoulders — do birds have shoulders? — trying to push up front and get Mama’s attention, and more food.

"Mama, I'm Starving!"says Baby Hummingbird

"Mama, I'm Starving!" © 2012 Bo Mackison

Even when the mother was feeding the less aggressive baby, the other one was always at the ready, beak open wide, as if to say petulantly, “Mama, I am starving! Feed ME!” A couple of times the larger baby pecked at the mama, and she pushed it aside. What a circus! She must be ready for them to fly away soon.

Baby Hummingbirds Awaiting Mama

Babies Waiting Mama's Return © 2012 Bo Mackison

Once the mama left the nest, darting up and down throughout the aviary collecting invisible insects, the babies snuggled together, and looked almost content. Content and alert, watching for their lunch-mobile mama to come back.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC, living and photographing in southern Arizona.

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Spanish Bayonet in Bloom

March 8, 2012 by 3 Comments
Spanish Bayonet Agave in Bloom

Spanish Bayonet in Bloom © 2012 Bo Mackison

The Spanish Bayonet has many common names, plus an out of date genus name and a corrected genus name. One look at this eye catching plant, and it is understandable why it has attracted much attention (and many names, too.)

The name that seems the most fitting is that of Spanish Bayonet. While the literature reports the sharp tipped leaves as “dangerously rigid” and states it was named after a bayonet because of its dagger like tendencies, I cannot help but think that the lovely red tips also influenced this name. As I have been (unintentionally) stabbed by one of these daggers, and as this unfortunate contact drew blood from my arm faster than a needle, I associate the Spanish Bayonet with blood letting tendencies.

Spanish Bayonet

And It Grows © 2012 Bo Mackison

This used-to-be yucca, now a hesperoyucca, still bears names from its misidentified yucca past — chapparal yucca ( yucca growing in a chapparal habitat) and foothill yucca (obviously named) and it is even called the common yucca, though it is no such thing. (Though “common hesperoyucca” is rather a mouthful.) The Spanish Bayonet was only found to be a misidentified plant through DNA testing, so one can hardly fault any of the yucca names. It is similar to a yucca in looks, but only distantly related.

Blooming Sotolillo

Blooming Ten Feet High! © 2012 Bo Mackison

This plant and its relatives, the agaves and yuccas, are some of the most conspicuous plants in the arid Southwest, not only because its plant form is highly attractive and frequently used in xeriscaping, but also because its flower (or inflorescence – what the flowering stalk is called) is hard to miss.I find them attractive nuisances, because when I see them flowering along the highways, I want to either look — a definite no-no — or stop and take photographs.

The Spanish Bayonet blooms only once, after it spends its lifetime accumulating enough sugars and starches to provide the fuel for the rapid development of its shooting floral stalk. This type of plant is called a monocarpic — it spends its life energy to produce one huge floral stalk which then sets a huge quantity of seeds. The plant’s cause of death is most commonly ‘setting flower’.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC, living and photographing in southern Arizona. She cannot resist the occasional botany lecture interspersed with relevant photographs.

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A Tree in the City and the Photo-Heart Connection

March 7, 2012 by 30 Comments
City Shadows

Tree in the City © 2012 Bo Mackison

I have been following a photographer, Kat Sloma, whose photos and words speak to me in a kindred sort of way, even though we do not know each other, have never met, have not connected in the blogging world way of comments passing back and forth. And yet, I have felt a connection for many months. Then I read Kat’s words a few weeks ago, and was struck by many commonalities.

I’ll quote her words, a summation of things I also have been thinking about.

“…this theme of connection keeps coming up. I want to extend the connection I find through Find Your Eye [an online course Kat teaches which I have only read about] to everyone, so I’ve brainstormed this new idea for a monthly blog series:The Photo-Heart Connection.

The idea: At the end of each month, review the images you worked with in that month for the one that gives you the strongest connection to your heart and soul. Write about that connection to the image in a blog post or in a photo description on Flickr, then link into the monthly link up. You can get to know the other photographers seeking the same connection, by visiting the links and reading their experiences. We will find our kindred spirits.”  ~ Kat of Kat Eye Studio

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Intending to do this, I went through only my Flickr photographs thinking that I would more likely sort through a hundred edited photos compared to a thousand in un-edited form. Since I was in the Southwest all of February, living on the fringe of the Sonoran Desert, I thought naturally I would pick one of my desert photos. After all, one of the reasons I am in Tucson is because I feel a deep connection to the desert. But as I watched the slideshow of my February photos, one kept catching my eye.

Yep, the shadow photo above. I t was taken in a tree-lined courtyard of the Tucson Museum of Art. I had gone to see a photo exhibit of Nickolas Muray, the personal photographer (and sometimes lover) of artist Frida Kahlo. There was no personal photography allowed in the museum exhibit itself, but I found myself taking copious notes as I studied each photograph.

Then I wandered outside, through the courtyards of the museum, and began photographing the museum grounds and the nearby historic Presidio of Tucson.

This is the photo I chose to represent “the strongest connection to [my] heart and soul”. Part of my choice was influenced by the strong colors, the strong lines, the balance of top and bottom (something I seldom do). But I think the decision-maker was the composition of the tree and its branches. The shadows head off in unexpected directions.

Just where is the tree? And why is there an uneven continuity when the shadow on the pavement meets the shadow on the wall? Does the photo represent a tangled mess or a continuity? What is the relationship of nature (or nature’s shadow) and the man-made wall and walking surface?

I chose this photo as my photo of February because of all the questions it asks me. And because of the challenge it gives me to answer those questions.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC, living and photographing in southern Arizona. She is quite enthralled with the idea of choosing one photo each month as her heart-photo connection. Everyone is welcome to participate, per Kat’s website info, so check out the project if it appeals to you.

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