Pink Zinnia ©2015 Bo Mackison
Red Flower, Many Layers
July 28, 2012 by 3 Comments
Red Flower Wearing Her Layers © 2012
While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we can see with our open eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see. ~ Dorothea Lange
The simple zinnia provides an interesting study of the pattern of petals. It reminds me of a velvety red circular staircase. (Maybe a staircase to heaven?)
Oops, my mind headed in a different direction with the vision of Stairway to Heaven. How can you ignore the strains of one of the best songs ever, Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin. (And yes, I saw them in concert in 1975, second from the top row in the Chicago Stadium, However the YouTube clip is from a concert at Madison Square Gardens!) I love the Zep enough to conquer any fear of heights or claustrophobia I may have had, and sat mesmerized through their sets.
Any other Led Zep fans out there? Especially from years of youth in the 1970s?
Isn’t it amazing how a simple red flower can send you on a trip through your memories?
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC .She went on a trip down memory lane, all because of a photograph of the petal structure of a zinnia.
Late Summer Zinnia
September 16, 2011 by 5 Comments
Late Summer Zinnia © 2011 Bo Mackison
Every single thing
Changes and is changing
Always in this world.
Yet with the same light
The moon goes on shining.
~ Saigyo
It is interesting to compare this zinnia with the same variety of orange zinnia photographed at the end of July when its petals were upright and the center had not yet developed. The last two nights Madison flirted with temperatures near 32˚ so perhaps our first near-frost of near-Autumn will have touched these flowers, and they will have changed even more.
And just as flowers and all of nature continually change, we too experience constant change. It isn’t true that the only things in life that are certainties are taxes and death (source: Benjamin Franklin.)
Change is a certainty, too.
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She will be heading to Highwood Last Call Art Fair in Highwood, Illinois (north Chicago suburb) later this afternoon. Most artists, me included, are featuring close outs and special discounts to mark the end of the season.
Pink Zinnia
September 8, 2011 by 4 Comments
Zinnia © 2011 Bo Mackison
Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it. ~ Buddha
I have had some wonderful successes photographing the late summer gardens at Olbrich Botanical Gardens. Every garden I visited seemed to hold me hostage until I could get a some photographs that made me smile. I sure don’t mind being a hostage in a garden. Imagine having a tiny home surrounded by acres and acres of gardens (and lots of gardeners to help, too!)
I’ve been to Olbrich almost everyday for the last week. First, the hosta and elephant ear plants seemed to mesmerize me, as the early morning sunlight made the leaves almost translucent. I t was as if they were holding the sun. I almost felt like I truly was in a trance.
Three days in a row I shot nothing but these green plants, and they were only about 15 feet from the entrance to the garden complex. I just could not past this entrance area until I had nearly exhausted the plants and flowers (and myself) with all that photographic attention.
But the last two visits, I strolled right past the entrance — I waited to sneak in several more greenery photos as I was leaving — and I got as far as the gardens filled to overflowing with cosmos and zinnias. Since the cosmos are one of my favorites, I spent a fair amount of time lying on the sidewalk next to these beauties, having long conversations about important world events — like the advances autumn is making in its bid to overtake summer!
Finally, when the sun began to rise high enough in the sky to lose that soft lighting, I spent the last half hour with the zinnias. Lucky, I had the diffuser with me, so I could both reduce the shadows, and protect the flowers against the winds that started blowing off the lake. This pink zinnia had with her head down, and so I happily got a few photographs from a different angle. I love the little pockets of shadings caused by the gentle curling of each petal.
Tomorrow the forecast is for a rainy Friday. Might have to stay home and tackle some house cleaning and computer work. That would be a good thing — plus the gardens would appreciate the rain, too.
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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo is having a most excellent start to the month of September. So many amazing projects are popping up, but no complaints. Creating and making meaning with photography is one of the highlights of her life!
Complementary Zinnia
August 21, 2010 by 6 Comments
Complementary © 2010 Bo Mackison
Fifth in a series of this red zinnia. Photographed at Allen Centennial Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin.
