Journey to the Edge

August 31, 2012 by 4 Comments
Lake Michigan and Shore Grasses - at Sunrise

Lake Michigan and Shore Grasses – at Sunrise ©2012 Bo Mackison

We do not receive wisdom,
we must discover it for ourselves,
after a journey through the wilderness
which no one else can make for us,
which no one can spare us,
for our wisdom is the point of view
from which we come at last to regard the world.

Marcel Proust

 On a recent trip to Door County, I set my alarm for an hour before sunrise. Each time I visit, I make a point to cross the narrow peninsula, from my bay side motel to one of the lake side beaches or harbors, and set up my sunrise camp. There I am afforded an unobstructed view of sunrise, only Lake Michigan to my east and the hint of a dawn soon to come.

I love watching as the sun pops up from the horizon. I love the darkness turning to daylight. I love the feeling of being on the very edge of a new day, on the edge of the earth between earth and water, on the edge of the beach between sandy shore and lush beach vegetation. I love taking photographs with the scene bathed in the golden glow of early morning light. I don’t much care for taking photos of the actual sunrise (or sunset for that matter) but I do love turning my camera away from that giant source of light, and shooting in the opposite direction.

In this case, I was standing on a sandy stretch of beach near the Ridges Sanctuary, and nearby was a stretch of sand filled with a dense growth of beach grasses. I was positioned just north of Bailey’s Harbor (the water) and so a bit of Lake Michigan and Bailey’s Harbor (the village) are in the background.

It was a bit of a journey through wilderness to another discovery of wonder.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  She is busy with packing notes and to do lists. She is traveling to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to exhibit her photography at the Third Ward Art Festival  this weekend.

 

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Dahlia and the Gift of Wonder

August 30, 2012 by 10 Comments
Dahlia and Bud

Dahlia and Bud © 2012 Bo Mackison

Wonder is the heaviest element on the periodic table. Even a tiny fleck of it stops time. ~ Diane Ackerman

Have you ever been walking in a garden, or a woods, or a desert – anywhere, really, surrounded by the natural world – and suddenly stopped, unable to take another step until you took the time to absorb the many sensations of that exact place?

That sudden stop – it happens to me frequently. Even when I hurry myself along, reminding myself that I only have time for a twenty-minute walk, I am unable to push through, to ignore. I simply must stop.

To do what? Gaze with wonder at a flower, or the pattern and colors of bark on a tree, or the lapping of the waves of Lake Michigan, or the intricate web of a spider…

Wonder. Yes. For me, wonder is a definite time stopper.

What a gift that is – priceless – the ability to totally focus on one small part of the world, on one small part of nature. To see it, truly see it. The dahlia petals, each in place, each twisted into a slightly asymmetrical cone, each petal packed tighter as the rows get closer to the center.

And the pattern on each petal?  Not a single one the same. They are like a snowflake or a fingerprint – each one unique. So much to look at, to explore with my senses. I hold onto these memories for another time, when I am without a flower or a garden or perhaps without any time or place for a walk.

Wonder stops time for me. Does it stop time for you?

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo has learned one thing from ‘walking with wonder’ – if she wants to walk for exercise she either needs to wear blinders, walk with a friend, or walk inside where she can ignore the distractions!

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Dahlia, Oh Dahlia

August 29, 2012 by 10 Comments
Dahlia, Oh Dahlia

Dahlia, Oh Dahlia © 2012 Bo Mackison

It began in mystery, and it will end in mystery, but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between. ~ Diane Ackerman

Dahlias are my favorite flower to shoot. When I find a dahlia I love, I usually return a dozen times so I can capture the dahlia in its many stages, from bud to petals scattered on the garden earth. But when a dahlia I fall in love with is in a garden 200 miles from my home, I can’t visit over and over. The next best thing? Take an hour’s worth of photos in this patch of dahlias, every angle, in diffused light, in sun patches. Blowing in the breeze, and captured in a still air.

After I processed with photograph by de-saturating the colors, I could only look at the giant photo on my computer screen and think, “Dahlia, oh dahlia!” I’m in awe of this beautiful flower.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is busy at work, finishing a few new photographs to bring to the Third Ward Art Festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this coming weekend. More info to follow.

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Boardwalk to the Beach

August 28, 2012 by 8 Comments
Beach Boardwalk

Beach Boardwalk © 2012 Bo Mackison

An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day. ~ Henry David Thoreau

What a thrill to watch as the sun rises over Lake Michigan. And then another thrill – equally as amazing – when I turn away from the sun, and see the sunlight’s effect on everything within my view.

This photo was taken just north of Bailey’s Harbor, a small village in Door County, Wisconsin. The boardwalk is lined with snow fence for the summer as a beach grass re-introduction project is kept protected from the many feet of the beach visitors. The snow fence, a rather mobile fencing structure, always provides wonderful opportunities for photography. I am especially thrilled with the zig zag lines on the wobbly fence as the day’s sun lifts from the eastern horizon, and swathes the worn fence in deep golden tones.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo is now home, and looking through the many photographs she took on her weekend trip to one of Wisconsin’s finest Vacationlands, Door County.

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Skillful Sailing

August 27, 2012 by 4 Comments
Sailboat and Anderson Dock

Sailboat and Anderson Dock © 2012 Bo Mackison

It is not the ship so much as the skillful sailing that assures the prosperous voyage.” ~ George William Curtis

The sun set behind the clouds, so we missed a stunning sunset. But after the sun disappeared, we walked around Anderson Dock for another hour, as there was no dearth of photo opportunities.

The sky remained a pale gray, but Green Bay had a silvery reflection, and shimmered as a sailboat pulled close to the dock to pick up a passenger. The building, now the Frances Hardy Gallery, was built in the late 1800s and was one of the main docks on Green Bay. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Today it is a big attraction for many vacationers visiting Door County. The town of Ephraim allows graffiti – within posted parameters – following an old custom of the dock.  Over a hundred years ago, when sailors docked at Ephraim, they often carved their names and the name of their ship on the walls of the building.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is taking an August break from writing long blog posts, but the photos continue while she and Sherpa spend a few days in the “Cape Cod of the Midwest.”

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