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
Broken Top Fine Art Greeting Cards
The following fine art greeting card of Central Oregon’s Broken Top Mountain has become one of my signature shots and includes one of the best wildflower displays you will find in Oregon. I’ve hiked around Broken Top dozens of times and I’ve always found some beautiful subject matter for photography purposes but the day I captured this fine art picture was one of the best days I’ve had in quite some time. I had scouted around the flanks of Broken Top Mountain several times the previous week but light and wind had not cooperated with me while at the same scene from this greeting card.
Greeting Card of Central Oregon's Broken Top Mountain with summer wildflowers
I knew the Monkeyflowers and the Indian Paintbrush would be at their peak on this morning but the weather was questionable. I awoke at about 4AM with a contingency plan in mind. If the clouds and weather were cooperating, I’d make the long drive up to Broken Top and shoot the scene above. If the weather was less cooperative, I’d shoot at Sparks Lake which offered South Sister, and some potential macro wildflower photography. When I arrived at Sparks Lake The weather couldn’t make up its mind. I could periodically see the pinnacles of Broken Top with the remainder of the mountain shrouded in clouds. Knowing that the right clouds can make for an exceptional Landscape photograph, I decided to gamble and make the long drive and then hike to the above location, all before sunrise. When I arrive exhausted, the mountain was entirely cloud covered. I decided to shoot some macro flower images and as I set up, something miraculous happened. The clouds quickly began to raise, but just enough remained to create the above fine art photograph. It became just the scene I’d hoped for when I visualized the shot the previous day under bad light. I was thrilled! My exposures were long, with many over 10 seconds but the wind mostly cooperated and I captured the scenic landscape images for which I was hoping. In addition to the above fine art greeting card, I also captured a great fine art print with my large format 4×5 camera that morning. To see the fine art print from that morning, please visit the following link. Broken Top Print
I’ve got three more note cards to announce in my initial line of 8 Central Oregon Cascade Mountain greeting cards. The cards have gone to print and should be available before the end of the month. If you are interested in buying them, please visit this site often as I’ll definitely make an announcement here when they are available. As I’ve mentioned before, if anyone has suggestions regarding other Bend area locations that they would like to see immortalized in my next set of Central Oregon greeting Cards, please let me know by leaving a comment at the end of this blog entry, or email me via the contact tab on the upper right hand corner of this website. Some of the suggestions I’ve had so far have included Tumalo Falls, Shevlin Park, Mirror Pond, the Metolius River, the Deschutes River, and Smith Rock State Park. If you have any other suggestions, please let me know. Until next time.
Take Care,
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