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
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
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
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
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
Bend, Oregon Gift Photos. My New Framed 11×14 Fine Art Prints Make Great Holiday Gifts.
Bigger isn’t always better! I have to keep telling myself this as I make my newer, smaller sized 11×14 inch prints and the frames that go with them. I’ve always prided myself in being able to capture and create impeccably detailed large fine art prints, up to 40×50 inches. Because I love the look and feel of a stunning, large print, I use a large format 4×5 camera for all of my fine art prints. Because I’ve had lots of requests for smaller photos, I’ve finally changed my bigger is better mindset and begun producing 11×14 inch prints that have proven to be very popular. Below is an image of a custom made 11×14 inch print that I made this past summer. In the Photo is Bend, Oregon’s Shevlin Park with Tumalo Creek flowing through the middle of the image. Fall color was amazing two years ago, when I captured this particular photograph. To view some more photos of Shevlin Park in its autumn splendor, check out this previous blog entry. Shevlin Park Pictures.
Photo of framed 11x14 inch print of Bend, Oregon's Shevlin Park in Autumn.
My new line of 11×14 inch prints will appear much like the print seen in the photo above. If the print is framed by me it will have a hand made cherry wood frame like the one seen above. They will be dry mounted, be single matted(double matting is too busy for a smaller print size like this one and they will be behind UV protected glass. Like all of my fine landscape photographs, they will be hand signed by me, and they will have a hanging wire on the back. This all comes for the low,low,low price of $250! In all honesty, I don’t know where else you could find an archival fine art photograph, hand signed, mounted, matted, with glass and a hand crafted cherry wood frame for $250. All of the images in my Oregon fine art landscape portfolio will be available in this smaller size, so if you’d like to buy a unique gift for someone special, please drop me a line or give me a call. 541.610.4815.
Thanks For Reading,
Happy Holidays,
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
Mt Jefferson, Central Oregon mountain Greeting Cards.
This is installment number 7 out of 8 images in my soon to be released line of Central Oregon Cascades greeting cards. The cards have allegedly been printed and are in route to Bend but the shipping will take several more days. I’m in the process of setting up e-commerce options on my website and finding appropriate shipping boxes for my cards. It will take until nearly the end of the month but things are progressing rapidly. The following image is one of my favorites of all the fine art images I’ve ever taken. It includes my favorite mountain, Mt. Jefferson, an incredible alpine flower meadow and a stunning lenticular cloud cap filling out this spectacular cascade mountain scene.
Picture of Mt. Jefferson Greeting Card as seen from the Central Oregon Cascades
As an avid gardener, this scene is especially special for me. I always hope to find flower filled foregrounds but I rarely find them despite hundreds of hours of blind but hopeful backcountry wandering. I had visited this exact location with my friend , photographer, and fellow beer sommelier, Troy McMullin a few days prior to the day I shot this image. I realized that the flowers would be optimal in a few days so I decided to return. In between, I took a short backpacking trip to Oregon’s Mt. Hood. I knew that the light would be best for my Mt. Jefferson scene in the evening and I knew that it was a long way and a lot of vertical gain to reach this scene so I decided to go light and fast, trimming my pack weight to about 30 pounds. I knew I would be hiking out in the dark of night so I double checked the batteries for my headlamps and grabbed some extra food for my hike out.
I was extremely eager to get back to this scene so I hiked in very rapidly. It is about a 9 mile one way hike to this location which also requires extensive off trail scrambling and a good GPS reading to find. When I arrived I was thrilled and immediately set up my tripod and began composing the scene. As I worked the scene, something fantastic began to happen. A small lenticular cloud began to form over the summit of Mt. jefferson. I couldn’t believe my good fortune. Lenticular clouds often hold dense, artistic patterns but it is very difficult to predict their formation. They virtually always improve a landscape photograph. Clear blue skies are happy, but are somewhat boring and common in the world of Oregon Landscape Photography. The formation of this lenticular cloud was too good to be true! I nervously but frantically shot the scene and eventually captured what I think is one of the best Oregon landscape photos I’ve ever seen. To be able to enjoy this phenomenal scene was a wonderful experience. To be able to capture this scene on film was truly a gift!
After exposing all of the 4×5 film with my large format camera, I quietly enjoyed the scene and then quickly hiked out as darkness fell. I floated down the trail remembering the scene I’d just captured. In addition to this being one of my favorite landscape Photos, it has been well received by others. This same image will soon grace the cover of Visit Bend’s annual tourism guide for the Central Oregon area. To take a sneak peak at the cover please visit this link Visit Bend Cover. The link will take you to a previous blog entry I wrote about the cover shot on our Pacific Crest Stock Photography blog. To see this fine art photograph in a framed version, please visit the Visit Bend visitor center in downtown Bend. Their address is: 917 Harriman Street Bend, Oregon 97701 They currently have this image on display and they will soon carry my line of Central Oregon Cascade Greeting Cards.
Please check back to this blog in a couple of days as I have one more greeting card to announce and a final announcement when the greeting cards are officially for sale, hopefully by the end of April.
Thanks For Visiting,
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