First Friday Art Walk 9/3/2010 in Bend, Oregon
Tonight for Bend, Oregon’s First Friday Art Walk, I’ll be back to my old haunt of Patagonia of Bend. Bend’s one and only Patagonia store is located at 920 NW Wall St in Downtown. I’ll have my work displayed and downtown Bend should be bustling with activity. Get you art groove on and stop in and say hello if you happen to be in the downtown area tonight from 5PM to 9PM. I’ll spend most of my time at the Patagonia store but my work will also be displayed at the Volcano Vineyards tasting room located at 126 NW Minnesota St, just around the corner from Patagonia of Bend. If you don’t see me at one place, I’ll be at the other and my Oregon landscape photography will be at both!
Mount Washington, in Autumn
The above image of Oregon’s Mt. Washington along with several other landscape images will be at Patagonia of Bend. Also available at Patagonia of Bend will be their now famous iced animal cookies and Rod Bien’s family label of Rot-Gut wine, which is great for quickly removing tartar from you teeth! Stop in for great photography and a free teeth whitening!
Meanwhile at Volcano, will be Sangria, Merlot, viognier, and their exceptional Syrah. I hope to see some of you in Downtown Bend tonight for the September 3, 2010 art walk!
All the Best,
Mike Putnam
First Friday Photography show at Patagonia of Bend.
Central Oregon's Mount Washington
For those of you who who will be in downtown Bend, Oregon tonight for the First Friday Art Walk, please stop by and see me at Patagonia Of Bend(formerly Pandora’s backpack). The above image of Central Oregon’s Mt. Washington is one of the several images that will be on display at Patagonia. Art walks typically last from 5-9pm but things may close early if there isn’t much traffic in the Downtown Bend area.
Oregon's Sparks Lake at Sunrise
I’ll have the above image of Sparks Lake on display, it is one of the best sparks lake photos I’ve ever taken, so hurry on down and take a look! As is usually the case, Patagonia of Bend will have a white wine of some sort available. Their wines are wonderful for removing paint and other debris from under your finger nails and I’m told that their wines are very effective as a solvent to remove pine pitch from dog fur or from the hood of your car. So if you have any solvent needs, come on down and grab a glass of Rod’s handy wine!
Mount Jefferson
The above photograph of Mt. Jefferson will also be on display at the First Friday Art walk tonight at Patagonia of Bend. It is one of the best Oregon landscape photographs I’ve ever taken, and I’ll have a large framed version on display tonight! If you are lucky, you might get to meet Patagonia’s manager, Mo. Mo is wonderful. Helpful, personable, funny and empowering. If you meet her, tell her I said she is awesome!
Oregon's Cascades at Sunrise
The above photograph of Central Oregon’s Cascade Mountains is one of my personal favorites. Taken from the highest point in the “true” Central Oregon area, the summit of South Sister, I definitely earned this shot. I’ll have a large framed 30×50 inch print of this image downtown tonight. While at the Art Walk tonight, try to say hello to Rod Bien, the owner of both Patagonia of Bend and Fleet Feet of Bend. Rod is a famous ultramarathoner, father, husband and retail giant. Despite his fame, the real reasons we love Rod are his crooked legs, his affable personality, and his horrendous taste in wine. If you are fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of his legs, notice the resemblance to to the famous yet crooked legged racehorse, Seabiscuit. It’s uncanny!
Bend, Oregon's Shevlin Park
The above image of Bend, Oregon’s Shevlin Park will also be on display tonight at Patagonia of Bend. Even if you don’t get to taste the awful wine and even if you don’t get to see Rod’s crooked legs, I think you will enjoy my photography, so please stop by tonight and say hello.
For those of you who have never been to one of my shows at Patagonia of Bend, they are located at 920 NW Bond St, in downtown Bend, Oregon.
Thanks for reading and I hope to see some of you tonight!
Mike Putnam
New Photographs Now showing at the Volcano Vineyards Tasting Room in Downtown Bend, Oregon!
I’m excited to announce that I recently hung some of my new Oregon Landscape Photography at the Volcano Vineyards Tasting room in Downtown Bend. Their address is 126 NW Minnesota St., which is located between Bond St. and Wall St. Through some mutual friends, Mark Merrick and Susan Ruzzo, we have gotten to know Scott and Liz Ratcliff who are the owner operators of the Volcano Vineyards and we all decided that their beautiful new tasting room would be an excellent location to share my art work with the people of Bend. They source their grapes in Southern Oregon where they craft phenomenal reds and whites. Their wines really are excellent. In fact, Volcano Vineyards is considered to be the most highly decorated winery for its size in the U.S. ! Follow this link for some more information about Volcano Vineyards’ recent awards. Volcano Vineyards. Below is one of the Oregon Landscape photographs that are currently on display at Volcano.
Photo/picture of Oregon's Mount Washington in autumn now on display at the Volcano Vineyard tasting room in Bend, Oregon.
Timing and hard work and good friends were the keys to capturing this stunning Oregon Landscape photograph. I’ll simplify by saying that I’ve worked hard to make good friends, explaining two of the three keys. I take it back, I’ve been very lucky to find great friends here in Central Oregon. One of these great friends is Troy McMullin, who is an excellent photographer and exceptionally talented beer drinker. Thus we are friends! Troy found this glorious location which aptly displays the beauty of Oregon’s Mount Washington after he had scouted long and hard. It takes a grueling bushwack through dense underbrush along with a good GPS to find this location and I would have never found it without Troy’s extensive advanced scouting and his unusual ability to suffer in the name of adventure. Regardless, I owe him a thanks and I’ll probably buy him a beer sometime in gratitude for pointing me to this wonderful scene. As I mentioned, Timing was also crucial to capturing this landscape photograph. I wanted fresh fall snow and preferably some fall color on the opposite shores of Cabin Lake. The key is to get snow on the mountain and not around the lake and to have clear skies to the east so that the rising sun is not blocked from Mount Washington’s summit and preferably some clouds behind Mt. Washington to add some interest to the sky. Well, after several visits to this difficult location, everything came together. Once again, timing and/or luck were critical!
I was busy this fall. Below is another picture now hanging at Volcano. In this image I captured some wonderful fall color along the Crooked River north of Redmond, Oregon. Here is a link to a previous blog entry about this landscape photo. Crooked River Photo.
Oregon's Crooked River Canyon with brilliant autumn color
There are three separate images that I captured during a family backpacking trip into Canyon Creek Meadow at the base of Three Fingered Jack during this past summer. It is extraordinarily lucky for me to get three separate images with my large format 4×5 camera that are print worthy during the same trip but that was the case this summer during our trip to Three Fingered jack. The Canyon Creek area is always beautiful but this year the lupine meadows were especially full and stunning. Below are a couple images taken in the upper Canyon Creek Meadow.
Picture of Purple Lupines in Central Oregon's Canyon Creek Meadow
I like that the lupines in this images are in excellent condition and I like the gentle sway that some of them have which gives this Oregon wildflower picture an elegant feel. There were Lupines everwhere as you can tell from the following image, also taken in Canyon Creek meadow.
Photo of Oregon's Three Fingered Jack Mountain and Canyon Creek Meadow at sunrise.
Finally, here is one more picture from Canyon Creek Meadow that I took on the same backpacking trip. It is a different part of the meadow and I believe it generates a much different feel than most photographs you will find of Three Fingered Jack or Canyon Creek Meadow.
Picture of Central Oregon's Three Fingered Jack Mountain and a wildflower lined alpine stream.
As I think about all the images I’ve currently got hanging down at Volcano, I realize that I’ve got that place pretty packed. I hope Scott and Liz don’t mind! Below is a distinctly more wintry image I took two years ago at Benham Falls along Bend, Oregon’s Deschutes River Trail. I was lucky to be able to drive to this location after such a heavy snow fall. It was actually pretty questionable and my poor daughter Emma got cold feet while patiently waiting for me to compose this snowy photograph. I’ve been to Benham many times and I’ve always had contrast control issues but the heavy snow load allowed me to capture an image that was not too contrasty. I am especially happy that I found this scenic waterfall while the trees around the river were still heavily flocked with snow, making for a great landscape image and making me a happy photographer!
Photo of Benham Falls in winter. This well known Bend Oregon waterfall is located along the Deschutes River Trail South of the city of Bend,Oregon
The following is a Sparks Lake Photo that I have never printed until now and I’m very excited about it. I captured an awesome light display with great snow on South Sister and Broken Top in this image. I was able to capture rare and wonderful light at one of Oregon’s most photogenic locations. Please stop by volcano and tell me if you like it as much as I do!
Photo of a beautiful sunrise from one of Oregon's most photogenic locations, Central Oregon's Sparks Lake.
Below is one more photo that can be viewed at the volcano tasting room in downtown Bend, Oregon. It is a simple but beautiful image of a vine maple overhanging the North Santiam River slightly west of the Cascade Crest. This individual tree had some of the most wonderful layering and color of any vine maples I’ve ever seen. It is a simple image but has a pleasant artistic feel.
Vine maple in autumn color along Oregon's North Santiam River
Well, that includes all of the Fine art landscape photographs that I currently have displayed at the Volcano Vineyards tasting room on Minnesota Street in downtown Bend, Oregon. Please stop by to see my work and while you are there, buy a glass of wine. The Syrah is my favorite! Their wine really is excellent and Scott and Liz Ratcliff (the owners) are great people who are growing a unique and special business right here in Bend. While you are there, you might also tell them you like the photographs that currentl decorate the walls of their lovely tasting room!
All the Best,
Mike Putnam
Bend , Oregon First Friday Art Hop at U.S. Bank Downtown Branch.
I’d like to thank the good people from U.S. bank, in Bend, Oregon, who recently purchased some of my fine art landscape photography for their newly remodeled downtown branch.
Sunrise on Central Oregon's Broken Top Mountain with a wildflower filled foreground.
The above photograph is one of those now on permanent display at the downtown Bend, Oregon branch of the U. S. Bank. This beautiful image captures Central Oregon’s Broken Top Mountain at sunrise with a beautiful flower filled foreground which includes Monkeyflowers, Queen Anne’s Lace, Indian Paintbrush, Senecio, and alpine asters. This and all the other images at U.S. Bank are double matted with a museum white acid free matte which looks great at the bank.
Photo/Picture of Central Oregon's favorite waterfall, Tumalo Falls
The above Tumalo Falls also looks great at U. S. Bank. For those of you who have seen this image before, you’ll notice that this specific has a slightly different crop, giving it a more expansive feel. It is a crop I’ve wanted to try and one that the folks at U. S. Bank wanted for their downtown Bend, OR branch.
Photo/picture of an alpine sunrise as seen from the summit of Central Oregon's South Sister
This semi-famous “summit sunrise” image is still one of my favorites and is now one of the favorites of U. S. Bank. It looks great there as it does at most locations. It gives a rugged, alpine balance to the balance of fine art images in the new collection at U. S. Bank.
Picture/ photograph of the Painted Hills of John Day in Eastern Oregon
The above Painted Hills print captured in the John Day unit of the Painted Hills area is another great representation of the tremendous geographic diversity that can be found in the Bend, Oregon area. This image is also a permanent member of the U.S. Bank’s art collection.
Photo/picture of Mt. Jefferson in the Central Oregon Cascade Range
This picture of Jefferson Park was captured in late summer from one of my favorite camping and hiking areas and is one of the first locations that made me excited about fine art landscape photography. this is simply one of my favorite types of landscapes to capture. Beautiful snow-covered mountains, scenic alpine meadows filled with wildflowers and great warm evening light.
Fine Art photo/picture of Oregon's Smith Rock State Park with the Crooked River in the foreground
Smith Rock State Park offers endless fine art photography opportunities and this is one of my favorite prints from that wonderful Oregon location. The glowing towers bathing in soft warm light with a fore ground of the gently curving Crooked River offer another example of the phenomenal diversity of the Central Oregon region. I think all of the above images make a beautiful permanent addition to the downtown Bend , Oregon branch of U.S. Bank, but judge for yourself! Please stop in at the bank and tell me what you think.
I’d like to sincerely thank the kind people of U.S. Bank who chose to purchase my art work and who graciously hosted me during the May 2009 first Friday Art walk in Downtown Bend. The event was well attended and it was very rewarding to meet some new people who are willing to support the arts in Central Oregon. A special thanks should also go out to Stacey, Loretta, Andy, and the rest of the staff at the U.S. Bank Downtown branch. They were all very efficient, helpful, organized and pleasant people to work with during the completion of this art project.
Thank You!
Mike Putnam
Oregon Cascade Mountain Gallery
High Desert Print Gallery
Trees and Wildflower Prints Gallery
Rivers, Lakes and Waterfalls Gallery
All content © 2010 by Mike Putnam Photography