Archive for April, 2010

Love Your Mother! Earth Day(Month) support for Our Local Environment.

Love Your Mother!

Love Your Mother!

Much of my work as a professional Landscape Photographer here in Bend Oregon is dictated by Mother Earth.  Will the flowers be blooming, will the sunrise be vibrant, will the wind be blowing?  It’s all up to her.  Because of that and my lifelong passion for the outdoors, I’ve been looking for a way to give something back to mother nature and Mother Earth.

Have you seen those “Make Local Habit” stickers around Bend?  Well I have and I love them.   After seeing one of those stickers on the back window of a Subaru Outback in downtown Bend, I had an epiphany.  I’d give 20% of my print prices to environmentally based non-profit groups and I’d make them local ones.  This commitment to Mother Earth will continue for one month.  Luckily there are some phenomenally well run environmental organizations with which I already have a great relationship, so the decision was an easy one.  I’ve decided that my contribution to Mother Earth will come in the form of donations to either The Deschutes Land Trust or the Oregon Natural Desert Association.

Both of these two organizations are efficient, have honorable missions, and they are staffed with talented, motivated  and affable individuals.  To describe these groups a bit better, I have borrowed some text from their respective websites.  To find out more, please visit the links for yourself.

The Deschutes Land Trust:  ”The Land Trust’s mission is to work cooperatively with landowners to conserve land for wildlife, scenic views and local communities.”

The Deschutes Land Trust Vision:

  • Healthy lands that support diverse populations of native plants and wildlife.
  • Communities that are closely engaged with the land, that value the natural world, treat it with respect and are invested in its futures
  • A region that, even as it grows, retains its natural attributes forever.
  • The Oregon Natural Desert Association:  ONDA is a 1,400-member, grassroots        organization committed toprotecting, defending, and restoring the health of  Oregon’s native deserts for present and future generations. Founded in 1987,  ONDA is the only group working exclusively to protect Oregon’s vast High Desert. Over the past 20 years, ONDA has earned many successes including the protection of Steens Mountain as the nation’s first “cow-free” Wilderness in 2000, and the removal of livestock from both the Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge and the Wild and Scenic Owyhee River. In 2009 ONDA was instrumental in the designation of the Badlands and Spring Basin Wilderness Area, creating 40,000 acres of new desert wilderness.
  • As I mentioned, I will give 20% of the cost of each print purchased through me to one of the wonderful organizations for the next 30 days.  The decision of which group I contribute to will be up to the individual who purchases the print(or prints).  Please let me know at the time you place your order so that I can enter the charitable contribution in my database.
    Love Your Mother, Especially Your Local One!
    Mike Putnam

    Apr 22, 2010 | Oregon Landscape photography blog entries | Leave A Comment »

    Bend Photography Updates and a plea for the arrival of Spring in Central Oregon!

    As I write this blog entry, it is snowing  here in Bend, Oregon.  While we have had some beautiful spring weather recently, days like today cause some to swirl back into a winter malaise.  Because I have been out scouting some upcoming photography shoots, I realize that spring really can’t be far away.  Some early high desert flowers such as sand lilies and alpine phlox are starting to bloom.  If you are a Central Oregon resident and have been tethered to a computer recently, I hope the following photos will give you some hope for spring.  While the alpine areas along the Pacific Crest will not be snow free for quite some time, the High Desert areas in Central Oregon are starting to bloom.

    Below is one of my favorite locations in Oregon, Jefferson Park, with possibly my favorite mountain in the world, Mt. Jefferson.  While you won’t be able to see flowers blooming in Jefferson Park for a couple more months, I couldn’t resist including this image in this spring photography primer because of it’s hopeful vernal feel.

    Mt. Jefferson as seen from the beautiful Jefferson Park Area

    Mt. Jefferson as seen from the beautiful Jefferson Park Area

    The above Mt. Jefferson/Jefferson Park photograph can currently be seen at the Sage Cafe in the Northwest Crossing neighborhood in Bend, Oregon.  My work will be hanging at the Sage Cafe through the end of April and then it will sadly leave the cafe’s friendly confines.  My work is no longer hanging at the Volcano Vineyards Tasting Room in Downtown Bend but it is still showing at Pandora’s Backpack AKA Patagonia of Bend on Bond Street in Downtown Bend.

    Bitterroot Blooms trumpet the arrival of Spring in the High Desert

    Bitterroot Blooms trumpet the arrival of Spring in the High Desert

    The above photo of Bitterroot blooms was taken in the high desert area outside of Sisters, Oregon.  The Bitterroots are one of the earliest flowers to bloom in Central Oregon and they give a beautiful yet delicate announcement of Spring’s arrival.  Everybody get out and hike in the High Desert and let me know if you see any of these beauties in their full spring glory.

    The following image of Balsamroot and lichen covered basalt columns was also shot in  Central Oregon’s High Desert.  This area near  the Alder Springs Trail Head is a wonderful spring hiking destination.  For more information about this hiking area, please visit the website for the good people of the Deschutes Land Trust.  They do a great job of preserving and protecting wild and beautiful places in Central Oregon such as Alder Springs.  Deschutes Land Trust.  Because much of the Central Oregon High Desert is lower in elevation than the city of Bend, the spring season arrives earlier in the high desert.  There are many areas in Central Oregon that will have big bright  yellow Balsamroot sharing their spring cheer in the next few weeks.  Their bloom season is short so plan a hike to one of your favorite high desert trails soon.

    Balsamroot bloom with a back drop of lichen covered basalt columns in Central Oregon's High Desert

    Balsamroot bloom with a back drop of lichen covered basalt columns in Central Oregon's High Desert

    The next photograph of southeast Oregon’s Steens Mountain offers another reminder that spring comes early in the high desert.  While Steens Mountain is a lengthy drive from Bend, it is a truly beautiful place and it can offer an early dose of spring.  To learn more about Steens Mountain, visit the following link to the ONDA website.  The Oregon Natural Desert Association(ONDA) was instrumental in protecting Steens Mountain for current and future generations.  Steens Mountain.

    Steens Mountain in the Oregon High Desert

    Steens Mountain in the Oregon High Desert

    If any of you Central Oregon hikers see some great high desert flowers starting to bloom, please let me know so I can add to my spring shooting schedule.

    Thanks for visiting,

    Mike Putnam

    Apr 21, 2010 | Oregon Landscape photography blog entries | 1 Comment »