Golden Portal

November 2, 2011 by 4 Comments
Golden Portal

Golden Portal ©2011 Bo Mackison

Eventually I discovered for myself the utterly simple prescription for creativity: be intensely yourself.
Don’t try to be outstanding; don’t try to be a success; don’t try to do pictures for others to look at — just please yourself.
~ Ralph Steiner

I live opposites.

I am a nester by nature, satisfied with quiet days strung one after another. I savor the nurturing space my family and I have created in our home. I like natural rhythms, routine.

But I am also a wanderer, and explorer. I yearn for travel, new places to see, absorb. I look forward to times when I can embark on adventures, near and far. Peek through an unseen space and discover gold.

This is my goal: to carry my home within me, and so be at home wherever I am.

—————-

Bo Mackison is a photographer, owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.

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

Devil’s Lake State Park in Autumn

October 30, 2011 by 3 Comments
Autumn in Devil's Lake State Park

Autumn in Devil’s Lake State Park © 2011 Bo Mackison

Perhaps you have noticed that even in the very lightest breeze you can hear the voice of the trees; this we understand is its prayer to the Great Spirit, for not only men, but all things and all beings pray to Him continually in different ways.  ~ Black Elk

Anyone who lives near Devil’s Lake State Park in south-central Wisconsin and has even a passing interest in nature makes time in their schedules for a ride through this iconic park in autumn. It never fails to please.

The entrance speaks of a grandeur from a different era–huge stone pillars designed and constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s–welcome everyone to the beauty inside the park. Even the South Shore Road winds through hardwood forests on its way to the glacial lake, the park’s namesake. Yellows and oranges are the predominant colors, but flashes of sunlight make it an otherworldly, shadowy experience.

I’ve walked through these woods–part of the Ice Age Scenic Trail–for many decades. Before I moved to Wisconsin, my family took many vacation trips to Devil’s Lake, an easy trip from Illinois. And in the last four decades, I’ve spent hundreds of days exploring the woods, cliffs, piles of boulders, the lake and its beaches.

A wonderful place for an explore of any kind.

——————–

Bo Mackison is a photographer, owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. One of her goals is to visit and photograph every state park in Wisconsin. She is at #14.

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

Touching the Sky

October 25, 2011 by 4 Comments
geese

Geese © 2011 Bo Mackison

Only from the heart can you touch the sky.  ~ Rumi

I had the most remarkable and rewarding day yesterday. I spent much of the day outdoors, studying and working in the natural world.

The day was sunny and the skies were a deeper blue than usual. There were two things that I repeatedly noticed throughout the day. First, the brilliant red maple in my backyard glowed like fire — yes, really, like fire — as the sunlight flickered throughout its deep oranges and reds. The maple is at its peak in color and I was aware that its fiery beauty would be fleeting, that the forecast for the rest of the week called for cloudy skies and rain. Yesterday was my day to pay attention to the red maple.

The other frequent visitors to my day were the wild Canada geese that flew over the house, oftentimes nearly skimming the tops of the trees.

I spent my day studying first the maple, deeply rooted, grounded, preparing for winter by slowing its metabolism, getting ready to drop its leaves, but that at the present moment it was in the height of its autumn beauty. Second, I watched the wild geese, preparing not to slow down for the winter, but instead instinctively working hard, readying themselves for a long flight south.

They were quite opposite in their approach to the coming colder weather, but both were still significant reminders of autumn.

While many people regard geese as nuisances, noisy and messy, their beauty in flight always thrills me, makes me stop and admire their grace, strength, and sense of community in formation. The geese remind me of the preparation required for the undertaking of a long journey, how they show perseverance to begin their journey, to reach their goal.

Yesterday was a good day for reflection on the present and for awakening the preparer in me. Not only are the geese going south for the winter, but I am also returning south for a part of the winter.

The geese, now in a perpetual state of preparation, remind me that I, too, must finish my work here so that I can prepare for my travels.

———————

Bo Mackison is a photographer, owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She has much to plan and prepare for — two art shows in mid-November, followed by a few weeks of travel in the Southwest, and perhaps a bit of adventure, too.

 

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

Three Tops at a Mic

October 24, 2011 by 6 Comments
Three Tops at a Mic

Three Tops at a Mic © 2011 Bo Mackison

I am imagination. I can see what the eyes cannot see. I can hear what the ears cannot hear. I can feel what the heart cannot feel. ~ Peter Nivio Zarlenga

Ever get carried away with your imagination as you look at the most ordinary of scenes?

This photograph of the prairie as it is breaking apart and shedding its finery in preparation for winter is straightforward. A few coneflower seed heads plus a stem in focus in the foreground, and more seed heads — out of focus — in the background.

And suddenly I no longer see the dying autumn prairie:

I see the “Three Tops,” a premier singing group in Prairie Land, at their microphone. Singing their hearts out as their fanatic audience sways to their rhythmic beat. Many in the audience are singing in their seats, but a few of the “Three Tops” most ardent fans are squealing and dancing at the bottom of the stage.

Hmm . . . Ursula Le Guin wrote, “I doubt that the imagination can be suppressed. If you truly eradicated it in a child, he would grow up to be an eggplant.”

—————–

Bo Mackison is a photographer, owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She walks the prairie, thankful she did not grow up to be an eggplant.

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

Crabapples – A Tree with Many Gifts

October 22, 2011 by 5 Comments
Crabapples

 The Fruits of a Crabapple  © 2011 Bo Mackison

Crabapple trees are among my favorite to photograph, as many of the cultivars are visually interesting in all seasons.

Spring brings trees covered with tiny flower buds that open into photogenic flowers with great visual impact. Walking in an arboretum or driving down a city street, it is not unusual to see trees in white or various pink shades. In spring, crabapple trees look like bouquets of densely packed blossoms. Summer crabapples provide greenery and are favorite hiding places for a variety of birds.

In autumn, many of the trees have leaves that turn brilliant colors ranging from yellows to oranges to orange-reds. The trees bear fruits which also vary in color depending on the cultivar type. Fruits range from yellow-greens to yellows, oranges, purples, and as seen in the photo, a bright cherry red. In winter the delicate shape of the tree is a photographic delight, especially when the trees do not drop their fruits.

A crabapple is only a crabapple if its fruit is less than two inches in circumference.

If larger, then they are apples. And yes, a crabapple is edible, though you might not like its taste in its natural state. Even birds that supplement their diet with these fruits often wait until late winter when there is little else available in the wild.

But edibility is not much of a consideration to a photographer. I love the deep reds of the fruits, how they asymmetrically hang from the branches, how they glow in the late autumn sun.

The difficulty appears when there are so many fruit laden branches in a single tree, and I spend much time studying and looking deeply at a one tree. Come to think of it, that’s really not a difficulty at all, but a gift to practice deep seeing, a gift in mindfulness.

The crabapple — a tree with many gifts. One only has to look, and see.

———————

Bo Mackison is a photographer, owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  She is deeply seeing as she studies the changing of the seasons.

Filed Under: Nature Explorations, Photography Tagged With: ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »