Red Tulip © 2013 Bo Mackison
Celebrate the day, the hour, the minute, the moment.
Celebrate the sunshine, the blossom, the greening of the spirit.
Celebrate life and beyond.
Thanks to all the women in my life who love, live, and make a difference.
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.
Pinkest Petals © 2012 Bo Mackison
Nature can be trusted to work her own miracle in the heart of any man whose daily task keeps him alone among her sights, sounds, and silences. ~ Gene Stratton Porter
Sunrise beckoned today. Sunlight woke me early. We went for a country drive to see what we could see.
The air was fresh, pungent with spring – lilacs in bloom, farmers turning the earth, the clean scent of the foaming Wisconsin River rushing towards the Mississippi.
Birds chattered, as they chatter each morning outside my window. I try to pay close attention, for in the rush of early morning it is possible to not hear them. I am finally distinguishing one from another. Today I saw several oak trees in an oak savannah filled with male Baltimore Orioles. I have never seen so many orioles at one time.
In late afternoon I went out to the garden where the last of the tulips were in bloom. In a few days their petals will only be scattered on the earth. By then the columbines and peonies will have started blooming. There is always something to see outside.
On this Sunday in mid-May, here is one of the tulips I photographed a few days ago. Its color was so striking, I chose to take an extreme close-up, and concentrate only on a little of its shape and its brilliant pink.
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.
The Only Pink Tulip © 2012 Bo Mackison
The truly important things in life — love, beauty, and one’s own uniqueness — are constantly being overlooked. ~ Pablo Casals
Everywhere I walk I see a new combination of tulips. So many different colors, shapes, styles. I think this Wisconsin spring must have been gifted with an abundance of tulip beauty!
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.
Two Purple Tulips © 2012 Bo Mackison
I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order. ~ John Burroughs
I been visiting gardens, the forests, the lake shores — putting my senses back in order. The colors of spring in Wisconsin are surely meant to awaken all of one’s senses!
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.
Tiny Tulips © 2010 Bo Mackison
Spirit creates; that behind nature, throughout nature, spirit is present; one and not compound, it does not act upon us from without, that is, in space and time, but spiritually, or through ourselves…it does not build up nature around us, but puts it forth through us, as the life of the tree puts forth new branches and leaves through the pores of the old. ~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature 1856
When I ask photographers who inspires their work, their philosophy, their experimentation with their photographs, I often hear mention the photographic greats–Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Dorothea Lange, Henri Cartier-Bresson are often mentioned, as are many contemporary photographers.
I draw much of my inspiration from the study of photographers, both famous and obscure. But I find my photography is also influenced, not only by artists, but also by architects, naturalists, the natural world, and an entire art movement.
One of the people who has deeply influenced my photography was not a photographer, but one of the world’s most innovative architects of the 20th century, Frank Lloyd Wright. I live in “Wright Country” and take advantage of regional tours to see his architecture, both exteriors and interiors, when available.
I find inspiration in his use of nature and natural materials in his designs, his functional and simplified forms, and his prominent use of art in his buildings.
Wright drew much of his inspiration from nature, and particularly from the native Midwestern prairie to which he had access for much of his childhood. He opened the boxy houses of his time, instead encouraging the use of wide open spaces and large expanses of windows that brought the out-of-doors to the inside of the house.
Wright also had a deep respect for harmony, and for harmonious relationships between form and function. He typically included natural items in his homes, usually transformed from their natural forms to into geometric designs. Wright was also an American Arts and Crafts Movement proponent. This movement focused on designing the items in a home to make an artistic statement.
When I take photographs, especially in gardens or natural areas, I frequently create photographs with one of Wright’s concepts in mind. I capture the beauty of the natural outdoor to bring into the living spaces of the home. And offer an interior garden all year-long — a bonus in the Midwest!
The photo of the trio of tulips was taken at the Allen Centennial Garden on the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison, Wisconsin.
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is printing some new pieces for her first big show of the summer art festival season, the Barrington Art Festival in Barrington, Illinois on May 28-29, 2011.
