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Seeded Earth Studio bio picture

Bio






My grandmother gave me a Brownie camera when I was eight
years old, then proudly showed my photographs of her flowers to her Garden
Society. The joy I felt as a young child while taking photographs for others to
enjoy remains today, and it is this passion that keeps me immersed in
photography.


My husband and I moved to Wisconsin in the mid-1970s and,
on impulse, I borrowed a Pentax K-1000 to take my first photography course. I
later attended the Madison Area Technical College and Edgewood University in Madison
where I took both art and photography classes.


In 2007, I received a digital camera as a gift and the door
to photography opened wider than ever. My world shifted as I saw the
possibilities that could be created using a camera and lenses — infinite possibilities
to document the natural world, architecture, history, seeing everything with a
new perspective.


"Even the smallest of details became intensely
interesting. Maybe that's why I love photography. I try to capture what I see,
my own interpretation, not what someone else might see."


I also became a contributor to WisconsinNative.com, writing
and photographing for both the Wandering Wisconsin and Travel Green
features on the travel website through December, 2008. My photography has also
been published in regional magazines, national travel guides, and in a book on
Functional Architecture which was published in London in 2009.


Though I shoot in many genres, I most love the experience
of photographing the natural world. Nature grounds me. I can be myself  --
in the forest, the mountains, the desert, or the prairie -- in solitude with
nature.


My hobby is now a career, as I write and photograph as a
freelancer as the principal of Seeded Earth Studio, LLC.

 

Bo Mackison

Seeded Earth Studio LLC

Madison, Wisconsin

Category Archives: macro

Trio of Orchids

03*04*2010 Posted in Madison ** Olympus E-3 ** Wisconsin ** garden ** macro ** nature ** photography

The sun is shining more, and the snow is melting, though I still have over a foot of snow in my yard. It will be awhile before I see flowers popping out of the ground in my neighborhood.
The next best thing is taking a drive across town to Olbrich Botanical Gardens and spending a couple...

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by Bo Mackison

11 comments

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Karen Wallace - What beautiful blooms Bo! I'm thrilled that even in the snowiest of times you can see a little 'tropicalness'...03/04/2010 - 2:52 am

Marcie - Exquisite detail. WOW!03/04/2010 - 7:40 am

Gandalf - Very lovely. I find orchids to be exquisit flowers.03/04/2010 - 7:54 am

Anna Surface - Bo, you are so fortunate to have Olbrich Botanical Gardens close by. These are exquisite orchids... as others have stated. Lovely close-up, composition and detail bringing the flowers forth in a pop with hello faces. :)03/04/2010 - 8:41 am

debsgarden - You have some beautiful photographs on your blog! This orchid s a wonderful color. I just happened upon your site in a roundabout way through blotanical. I will visit again!03/04/2010 - 9:50 am

Molly - Simply lovely. And they are purple which makes them even prettier!03/04/2010 - 4:58 pm

Montucky - How beautiful! I would love to have a place like that close enough to visit on a cold winter's day.03/04/2010 - 8:03 pm

Debi - Sigh. I'm so ready for spring!03/05/2010 - 12:29 pm

bernie kasper - Beautiful image Bo..I can never photograph Orchids to my liking but you really nailed this one, fine work !!03/05/2010 - 3:57 pm

Sue - Wonderful color and detail. Lovely image.03/07/2010 - 12:38 pm

joey - So lovely and fun to photograph!03/10/2010 - 8:27 am

Hot Stuff

03*01*2010 Posted in Madison ** Olympus E-P1 ** Wisconsin ** macro ** photography

Pick your pepper.
We were near a local hangout that offers a Tex-Mex weekend brunch, so we headed to Texx Tubb’s Taco Palace on Atwood Avenue after an early morning photo shoot. The food was fine, a Mexican omelette filled with cheese and peppers, but I was more interested in photographing the place. After the manager...

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by Bo Mackison

5 comments

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Molly - Decisions, decisions, right? LOL03/01/2010 - 1:24 pm

Anna - An omelet with cheese and peppers with a good dash of hot sauce would taste very good! I like photographing bottles... with stuff or not. Nice hot stuff shot. :)03/01/2010 - 4:46 pm

Montucky - An omelette sounds good, and of course plenty of the good stuff to put on it. That looks just a little like one of the shelves in our kitchen.03/01/2010 - 9:27 pm

Gandalf - great photo. Love the hot sauce.03/02/2010 - 10:48 am

Debi - This makes me hungry. Everything tastes better with hot sauce on it, and I'm crazy about Mexican omelets with hot sauce. Tabasco is KING in my world but I'm up to trying them all! Next time I visit Wisconsin I so need to try this place - I'm salivating!03/03/2010 - 2:34 pm

Fuzzy Ficus

02*28*2010 Posted in Madison ** Olympus E-3 ** Wisconsin ** garden ** macro ** nature ** photography ** wabi-sabi

A first glance, it appears that these ficus leaves have encountered a cold weather frost. Not so. This ficus plant grows in the Bolz Conservatory, the glass greenhouse that keeps the tropics alive in a tiny part of wintry Madison. And the white is the fuzziness of its new growth.

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by Bo Mackison

5 comments

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Montucky - That's really pretty! Looks like a furry winter jacket on the leaves.02/28/2010 - 4:08 pm

Marcie - Exquisite detail. That white fuzzy stuff looks so soft...03/01/2010 - 6:18 am

Gandalf - Reminds me of Fuzzy Wuzzy03/01/2010 - 8:04 am

Molly - The detail is incredible in this.03/01/2010 - 1:19 pm

Debi - AH, man...I'm ready to see some new green growth, fuzzy or not! This is choice - thanks for the treat!03/03/2010 - 2:32 pm

Heart Lines

02*04*2010 Posted in Olympus E-P1 ** macro ** photography ** quotations

Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts. ~ Albert Einstein
I spent a few hours playing with the Lensbaby and its macro attachment. I have a frosted glass inset in my work table, a great purchase I found at Ikea for less than $90 dollars. I clamped a...

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by Bo Mackison

7 comments

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Molly - Never know where you'll find inspiration, huh? :)02/04/2010 - 10:30 am

Ed Vatza - OK Bo, I not going to go into detail where my dirty old man mind took me with this image. Suffice it to say I saw the background as skin... And I'll stop there. I trust you are having fun with the Lensbaby. I have the macro kit, the fisheye and the soft focus optics. Lots of fun.02/04/2010 - 10:39 am

Montucky - I can see where that would suggest a whole lot of ideas. Experimenting is fun, isn't it!02/04/2010 - 11:23 am

Gandalf - Hve fun with the Lensbaby. I look forward to seeing how creative you can be.02/04/2010 - 2:57 pm

Marcie - So very creative..and very cool!!! WOW!!02/05/2010 - 7:13 am

DianneMR - Bo, I'm really enjoying watching you play with Lensbaby! Thank you for sharing it with us! :o)02/06/2010 - 8:13 am

Sue - Being a huge lover of abstract, this is awesome! Love it.02/06/2010 - 9:09 am

Chain and Links

02*01*2010 Posted in Olympus E-P1 ** Wisconsin ** macro ** photography ** quotations ** wabi-sabi ** winter

A soul mate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. ~Richard Bach

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by Bo Mackison

6 comments

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Montucky - There's a lot of history symbolized there!02/01/2010 - 5:42 pm

Debi - BO! I'm unable to "follow" you for some reason and have to remember to check in here daily. That's tough when I leave for spells so forgive me!!!! I'll get around to commenting on everything soon but please know how much I love visiting, love your photography and am astounded by the simple details of photos such as this very one! Love it!!!!!02/01/2010 - 8:08 pm

Marcie - Wonderful detail..and I love your accompanying quote. Perfect!!02/02/2010 - 7:13 am

Yvonne - Great image, the lighting was selected well to bring out the texture in the wood! Nicely done.02/02/2010 - 7:47 am

Gandalf - What great visual texture. I love this photo.02/02/2010 - 9:07 am

Molly - I love how clearly defind the shadow in this one, pretty awesome. Enjoyed the quote too. :)02/02/2010 - 10:05 am

Yearning for Spring

01*30*2010 Posted in Madison ** Olympus E-P1 ** Wisconsin ** garden ** macro ** nature ** photography ** wabi-sabi

I’m experimenting with the Lensbaby Composer, a sweet little lens on a ball and socket that allows me to swivel the lens and focus on a focal point – or not! I find that using what some photographers refer to as a “play lens” frees me from the rules and lets me take photographs that...

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by Bo Mackison

7 comments

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Sue - I simply HAVE to get a Lensbaby. I keep talking about it, but I think it's time to do it! Love the effect you achieved in this one.01/30/2010 - 4:22 pm

Robin - This is really beautiful, Bo. I'm yearning for spring as well. I've had enough of this bitter cold.01/30/2010 - 4:56 pm

Gandalf - Well as to Spring the Ground Hog has his say on Tuesday. The abstract feel of your lensbaby is pretty cool.01/30/2010 - 5:38 pm

Montucky - I like the image and color, Bo. For some reason it immediately made me think of pictographs, perhaps Egyptian.01/30/2010 - 7:56 pm

Marcie - Such beautiful greens. Have been wanting to play with a lensbaby myself. What unusual and wonderful 'spring' effects!!!01/31/2010 - 1:13 pm

Molly - Very springtime! Like this one. :)02/02/2010 - 10:01 am

Tweets that mention Yearning for Spring » Seeded Earth Studio -- Topsy.com - [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Bo Mackison, D Murphy-Rodgers. D Murphy-Rodgers said: Yearning for spring: beautiful experiment with green and macro on Lensbaby Composer by @bo_mackison http://bit.ly/aIq6bs :o) [...]02/01/2010 - 6:49 am

Crystal Ice Prisms

01*24*2010 Posted in Madison ** Olympus E-P1 ** Wisconsin ** macro ** nature ** photography ** quotations ** wabi-sabi ** winter

I discovered Ken Libbrecht’s book called Field Guide to Snowflakes, a book, yes, all about snow. There is much going on in this frozen world that we are mostly unaware of, and it’s darn fascinating stuff! The book has photos of snowflakes produced under all sorts of weather conditions, including different temperatures and amounts of...

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by Bo Mackison

9 comments

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Dominique - With rain and what little snow we had rapidly thawing here, I'm really enjoying this bit of virtual snow today :)01/24/2010 - 12:31 pm

Anna Surface - I never thought to use black paper or cloth to catch a snowflake. That would be tricky to do so and quickly photograph it with a macro lens... yet a neat challenge! Beautiful photo and interesting post.01/24/2010 - 2:48 pm

Sue - I worry that I've moved just enough south to not have the opportunity to photograph snow. A year or so ago I tried to photograph snow flakes and subsequently read a few articles about the technique for doing so. Snow is truly a fascinating subject. I love your ice prisms. Nice subject and interesting reading in today's post!01/24/2010 - 4:01 pm

--Deb - I actually have a oopy of Bentley's book--page after page of photos of snowflakes (though not so pretty as Libbrich's book looks). It's astounding and, really, no two are the same! (I love when cliches are actually true.)01/24/2010 - 5:02 pm

Montucky - Fascinating stuff, Bo, and those ice prisms are magical.01/24/2010 - 9:52 pm

Molly - So pretty and precise!01/25/2010 - 1:37 am

bernie kasper - Beautiful image Bo..Don't know if I would ever have the patience to photograph snowflakes though ;)01/25/2010 - 9:11 pm

Gandalf - It's a good thing those are ice/snow & not thorns. They would be beauty with a bite otherwise.01/26/2010 - 3:35 pm

Susan - Thanks for the book idea! I just adore the snow and snowflakes. Delicate shot you have taken here...fragile, yet powerful01/29/2010 - 6:20 am

Moth Orchids

01*23*2010 Posted in Olympus E-P1 ** Wisconsin ** garden ** macro ** nature ** photography ** wabi-sabi

Another visit to my stash of photographs from the Olbrich Botanical Garden. There’s something about this row of orchid flowers that makes me feel like I’m in a flurry of purple moths.

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by Bo Mackison

4 comments

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Molly - Simply beautiful, the purple makes it even lovelier.01/23/2010 - 6:44 pm

Montucky - Very pretty, and I can relate to the feeling. Those do look like beautiful wings.01/23/2010 - 8:51 pm

Marcie - Such simple and exquisite beauty and detail!!!01/24/2010 - 10:18 am

Sue - Absolutely delightful!01/24/2010 - 4:03 pm

Heart and Soul

01*20*2010 Posted in Olympus E-P1 ** Wisconsin ** macro ** photography ** quotations ** wabi-sabi

It’s a lot easier to be lost than found.  It’s the reason we’re always searching, and rarely discovered — so many locks, not enough keys. ~ from Lock and Key by Sarah Dressen

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by Bo Mackison

10 comments

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Richard - Hmmm, maybe it's easier as it doesn't require any effort to be lost. "Locks" may be the result of a state of mind. Beautiful image. :) Richard01/21/2010 - 7:07 am

Gandalf - I'm not sure why, but this image just grabbed me eye as soon as I opened your blog today. The texture, the image and the imagry all just capture my attention.01/21/2010 - 8:07 am

Molly - That's so incredible! I had been writing a story a while ago titled The Keyhole( complicated plot or I would get into it), and I envisioned something JUST like this in context with the story. Oh, I simply love this picture. Just my style. Like some said previously - the texture and color are great. For me, it seriously has the gears in my head to start turning and the creative juices start flowing. Where does it go? Where is the key? What's the purpose?... So brilliant. ( That was more than three words, wasn't it? Hehe.)01/21/2010 - 10:41 am

SHAZnyc - Very well composed. I like the way you placed the subject off to the right and towards the top.01/21/2010 - 11:43 am

ankush vimawala - nice!01/21/2010 - 3:09 pm

Montucky - And should you have the key, what memories would be unlocked!01/21/2010 - 4:46 pm

Sue - Simple, but so much to ponder.01/22/2010 - 4:39 am

Marcie - Exquisite detail...and I suppose the best part of getting lost..is being found!!!01/22/2010 - 7:08 am

Anna - Very nice capture of the rusted lock on wood. The quote intriguing to ponder. Always a mystery of the theme of lock and key in so many tales to tell.01/22/2010 - 9:18 am

Debi - Beautifully composed with a fascinating quote and concept, Bo. The "underlines" beneath - cracks in the wood - seem to underline the very point of this artistic piece, this post. Simple and wonderful.01/22/2010 - 11:58 am

Holding Hands – A Self-Portrait

01*18*2010 Posted in Madison ** Olympus E-P1 ** Wisconsin ** garden ** life lessons ** macro ** nature ** photography

On the most basic of levels, this is a photograph of overlapping leaves that I took using a Lensbaby Composer. But when I saw the photograph, it seemed to be much more than a few leaves, it seemed to be another one of those self-portraits I occasionally take that aren’t an actual self-portrait, but a...

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by Bo Mackison

10 comments

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Molly - That's incredibly creative, I love it. :D01/18/2010 - 5:46 pm

Joanna Young - Stunning! And a beautiful reminder of just what we're doing when we're outside :-)01/19/2010 - 1:33 am

Anna - That is very interesting! I like this and as a 'self-portrait'. :)01/19/2010 - 8:16 am

Gandalf - Interesting self-portrait, and I appreciate the insights into nature, architecture etc that you provide through your photos and blog.01/19/2010 - 9:33 am

bernie kasper - Beautiful shot Bo, great eye in capturing this, like your symbolic view on this !!01/19/2010 - 12:43 pm

Sue - Beautiful image; interesting analogy. I haven't explored the Lensbaby yet. That might be something I need to add to my bag....01/19/2010 - 7:33 pm

Ed Vatza - Oh wow! Very cool! There is also an embryonic look or even an otherworldly look to this image as well.01/20/2010 - 6:47 pm

ankush vimawala - wow, very original!01/21/2010 - 3:12 pm

Debi - Very nice, Bo. Your philosophy about self and nature is truly revealed in this photo. Love it.01/22/2010 - 11:54 am

ybonesy - Yes, I can see how this is a metaphorical self-portrait. It reminds me of an ultrasound, the image of a babies fingers en utero.01/26/2010 - 9:28 am