Bend Oregon Art Walk. Split shifts between Volcano Vineyards and Pandora’s Backpack.
I’m pleased to announce that I will be in downtown Bend, Oregon for the First Friday Art Walk from approximately 5-9PM this Friday, March 5th. I will start the evening at the Volcano Vineyards Tasting Room located at 126 NW Minnesota St I’ll be there from approximately 5-7PM.
The walls of the Volcano Vineyards Tasting Room festooned with beautiful Photography!
At 7Pm I’ll move to Pandora’s Backpack which is located just around the corner at 920 NW Bond St where I’ll reside from approximately 7-9pm.
Patagonia by Pandora's Backpack located at 920 NW Bond St. in Bend, Or
I’ll have some of my best work displayed at these locations so please stop by.
Volcano will have their always stellar wines available for a very fair price and the Pandora’s Backpack will have their always awful wine available for free! It should be noted that while Rod Bien’s(owner of Pandora’s Backpack) taste in wine has been know to make winos gag, they do have a beautiful collection of Patagonia clothing that will make any outdoor enthusiast giddy with excitement.
smiling and helpful staff members, like Whitney, seen above, will be available to serve you some semi-toxic wine tomorrow(3/5/10) at Pandora's Backpack
Please stop by for good or bad wine and hopefully great Photography! Below is a small sampling of the work I will have available.
Mt. Washington at sunrise.
Photograph of Shevlin Park in Autumn.
Photo of a beautiful sunrise from one of Oregon's most photogenic locations, Central Oregon's Sparks Lake.
Sunrise on Central Oregon's Broken Top Mountain with a wildflower filled foreground.
Please stop by as it should be a great evening!
All the Best,
Mike Putnam
Central Oregon Greeting Cards. They’re Here!
I’ve finally got all the details ironed out and my small initial line of Central Oregon Greeting Cards are now available. I’ve tried out the paypal online payment system and it is working great. I’ve even had a few advanced sales prior to this announcement!
Central Oregon Cascade Mountains Greeting Cards
These cards will be available in boxes of 8. You can purchase 8 of any one given card or you can purchase the “variety pack” which has one each of the eight different cards. You can find a tab for my new purchasing page on the right side of the home page of this website, or you can click the following link to access the greeting card purchasing page. Central Oregon Greeting Cards Cards are offered of each of the following Central Oregon Cascade Mountains. Mt. Jefferson, South Sister, Mt. Bachelor, Three Fingered Jack, Mt. Washington, The Three Sisters, Middle and North Sisters, and Broken Top.
The Cards themselves are very high quality with an attractive satin finish. They will be an excellent way of sharing a hand written note with friends, family, and clients who live in Central Oregon and beyond. For those of you in the business world, these cards will offer you the opportunity to truly personalize your correspondences with valued clients and simultaneously share the unique beauty of Central Oregon with them. The cards will initially sell for $3.00 each and boxes of 8 will sell for $24. Discounts will be available for large purchases made by distributors. Please write to me through the contact page of this website for pricing details regarding large retail orders. The contact tab is located at the top right hand corner of this page. Central Oregon Greeting Cards.
These Cards will soon be available through shop in Central Oregon. I’ll keep you up to date regarding those locations via this website, but for now, please purchase them directly through this website.
Thanks For Visiting,
Mike Putnam
Central Oregon’s Mt. Washington Greeting Cards
Continuing on in my series of new greeting cards which will soon be released, I’ll share a photo of Oregon’s Mt. Washington, one of the lesser recognized of the Central Oregon volcanoes. Mount Washington has its own wilderness area and is easily visible from both Santiam Pass and McKenzie pass. From along Santiam Pass and high above Suttle Lake, Mt. Washington has a shape somewhat reminiscent to the Matterhorn, but of course in a smaller version. It is a beautiful mountain. One of my favorite views of this scenic mountain is seen from Big Lake which is located near HooDoo ski resort slightly west of Santiam Pass. Big Lake is where I captured the following image which is represented in my soon to be released line of Central Oregon Greeting Cards.
Picture/photo of Oregon's Mt. Washington greeting card as seen from Big Lake
Big Lake is a great recreational location offering camping, hiking, fishing, boating and great mountain views of Mt. Washington. I captured this Oregon Landscape photo last fall after an autumn snow covered the alpine areas high above the lake. To view some other pictures I took on this same colorful evening along the shores of Big lake click this link Mt. Washington Photos. This was one of many great photos I took that evening. The photography conditions were exceptional for several reasons. First, it is a great location for landscape photography regardless of the conditions. Second, the freshly fallen snow made for a much more detailed and interesting scene, giving is a more alpine look and feel. Third, the clouds were awesome, as was the sunset light which changed dramatically by the minute(see the previous link for some examples). Lastly, there was very little wind, allowing a wonderful mountain reflection of Mt. Washington in the still waters of Big Lake. This is one of my favorite compositions from that beautiful evening and also one of my wife, Debbie’s favorites. I think it is a great representation of Oregon’s Mt. Washington on a gorgeous evening and it will be well received in my new line of Central Oregon Cascade Mountain Greeting Cards. Please check back as there will be two more Central Oregon mountains covered in the next few days before my Art Cards arrive and are available.
Thanks for visiting,
Mike Putnam
Central Oregon Cascade Mountain Greeting Cards!
For those of you who are regular readers of my updates, hold on to your hats as I’m branching into something entirely different. I’m about to launch a small but super high quality line of art cards, greeting cards, note cards, or whatever you want to call them. they will open to a blank inside for personal notes to friends, family, clients, or associates. Regardless, they should be very nice and as you might expect, Central Oregon landscapes will be the theme. My first series of 8 cards is just about to be ordered and should be available in a couple of weeks. I hope to market them everywhere that sells attractive cards. I’ve received countless requests for less expensive products from people who genuinely seem to love my photography but don’t have $1,650 available for a framed 30×50 inch print. I get it! Especially in these difficult economic times. Thus my new business idea. I’ve always focused on the best quality that I could possibly achieve from the beginning of my process to the end. It all starts with great slow speed 4×5 transparency film in a balanced, accurately focusing large format camera with excellent quality multi-coated lenses on top of an exceptional carbon fiber tripod. This is just the film capture part of the process. Next comes the processing part of the image capture process. I can have a beautifully exposed capture of a once in a lifetime scene but if the processing is botched then everything but the memory is lost. That’s why I utilize the best processing outfit anywhere. Next comes the printing. Many people have asked if I do my own printing. I don’t for several reasons. The first of which is that it takes a long time to become a great printer and I’m simply too busy to perfect the art. The second is that I don’t have quite enough through put to justify having the requisite chemicals around in my already cramped basement. Also, maintaining a top quality color processing set-up is also time consuming and frankly, professional outfits can do it better than me and therefore I choose to have them do it. I consider my printers to be the best in the world. This opinion is shared by many of the best professional photographers in the world. Because all of this adds, y fine art quality photographs are not cheap. Because I’ve had lots of requests for my images at a lower price, I came to the conclusion that high end but fairly priced Greeting Cards featuring Central Oregon Cascade Mountains would be a good place to start. As always, quality was my first objective. The printing options are endless. Decisions regarding paper, print,and font had to be made. Then of course, I had to select only 8 of my thousands of images for usage. This was brutal! There are so many photographs that I’d like to make into art cards but I had to start somewhere. With endless help from my sweet wife, Debbie, and our great friends, Jason and Christine, we have finally reached the printing stage. I’ll offer a photographer’s insight into how each of my new greeting card images were captured over the next couple of weeks, until the Greeting Cards are actually available. I’ll also leak out more information about specifics of the cards, price, etc. To start off the grand introduction of my soon to be released art cards, I give you the following image of Sparks Lake, with the distant South Sister as seen from near the Cascade Lakes Highway.
South Sister and Sparks Lake Greeting Card
I felt this was an appropriate card image to start with because it is such a recognizable location for many Central Oregon outdoor enthusiasts and because it was one of the first images that I captured that I was truly excited about. I had been to Sparks Lake for many previous sunsets but none have been the equal of this Sparks Lake photo. The scene was stunning that I got goose bumps. To capture that much color, with a perfect reflection of South Sister from such a scenic Oregon location was a gift. I always have a desire to do justice to a given location. Many of you have probably been to a scenic location and took some photos and when you returned home you were disappointed with your results because the photos didn’t do justice to the beauty of a given scene. Well, my goal is to never let this happen. Don’t get me wrong, it happens, but if the scene is beautiful, I keep going back until I get it right and I eventually do justice to the scene. this photo is very rewarding because I did justice to a famous and beautiful scene. The setting could not have been better. I was with My wife and our daughter, Emma, who was catching toads along Sparks Lake’s shore while I photographed the scene. The clouds were amazing, and the water could not have been more still. Knowing that this scenic location was a favorite of Oregon’s photographer laureate, Ray Atkeson is also immensely rewarding. Of all the time I’ve spent photographing Sparks Lake, that evening is still my favorite. I hope you all enjoy the greeting card version of this shot and please contact me if you would like to make a purchase. I’ll soon have a special Art Card/Greeting Card page on my website where it will be possible to register with PayPal and buy my cards directly from the web and I’ll send them directly to you. If anyone has any suggestions regarding locations that you’d like to see as part of my next series of cards, please leave a comment at the end of this blog entry. Until my next Greeting card entry, Take Care.
All the Best,
Mike Putnam
Big lake, Mt. Washington the Three Sisters and early season Snows
Typically, in the world of Central Oregon Landscape photography there is a shoulder season between Autumn and winter which can be prolonged and unproductive. During this shoulder season, which we are in the midst of right now, I always hope for a few light snows that add texture and interest to our Central Oregon Cascades. There is a fine line, however, between enough snow and too much snow. Enough snow allows access without requiring overnight camping and snowshoes. Recently we’ve had just enough snow. One spot I like to visit in our photographic shoulder season is Big Lake. It is near Hoo Doo Ski area and is beautiful any time of year. The shoulder seasons are my favorite times of year at Big Lake because of sunsets like I recently experienced there. Below is the first of many shots I captured that evening.
Mt. Washington and pastel skies reflected in Central Oregon's Big Lake
As the sun slowly faded I enjoyed the kind of light that is a landscape photographer’s dream. The initial soft pastels hardened into more intensive and contrasty colors. Below is a photograph taken within 10 minutes of the first, showing a quickly changing set of cloud formations.
Mt. Washington and Big Lake's shore line illuminated by pastel skies high in the Central Oregon Cascades.
Next is slightly later image showing Mt. Washington reflected in a small cove along Big Lake’s shore.
Mt. Washington reflected in Big Lake, high in the Central Oregon cascades
As the light faded an attractive and almost electric scene developed along Big Lake’s shore line.
Big Lake reflects a beautiful sunset high in the Central Oregon Cascades
Soon after the above shot was taken, the light faded, the wind picked up and I packed up my gear and headed home to Bend after a very successful and extremely beautiful sunset. The next photograph also falls into my “shoulder season” category. It was obviously taken on a different evening but one that was no less beautiful than the one I enjoyed at Big Lake. This photograph was taken at Bend’s Tumalo Reservoir. It is one of my favorite locations for Central Oregon landscape photography for several reasons. It is close to the city of Bend, and it offers a nice reflection of all three of the Three Sisters Mountains. The mid ground of the following image is an area commonly known as the skyline forest. This area is privately owned and was previously known as the Bull Springs tree farm. It is composed of over 33,000 acres and encompasses much of the area between Bend and the Three Sisters Wilderness area. It would truly be a shame to have this wonderful area developed into a resort with the possibility of over 1,000 homes. It would be a shameless waist of breeding habitat for elk and mule deer and recreational habitat for people. Can you imagine the view of the Three Sisters from Awbrey Butte spoiled by a city the size of Sisters where there was once nothing but beautiful ponderosa forests? Can you next imagine the following image spoiled by a city crowding the area beyond the the reservoir? Groups like the Deschutes Land Trust are working hard to make sure that the cities of Bend and Sisters never have their view ruined and that valuable wildlife habitat isn’t permanently destroyed so that out of state developers can get richer. The Deschutes Land Trust is a special group filled with great people, many who I know personally and all of whom have Central Oregon’s best interests in mind Another group worth looking into if you are interested, as I am, in preserving the skyline forest west of Bend, is the Central Oregon Landwatch.
Enough of my conservation ramblings, below is the photograph which reminded me of the struggle to save the skyline forest area.
Sunset over Tumalo Reservoir, west of Bend. Just beyond the tree line is the area referred to as the "skyline forest"
Broken Top Photography Adventures
Some of my favorite Central Oregon hiking areas are the alpine basins that surround Broken Top Mountain, located in the Three Sisters Wilderness Area near Mt. Bachelor. There are several beautiful hiking trails that hive good access to amazing alpine scenery high on the flanks of Broken Top, including the Tam McArthur Rim Trail, Park Meadows Trail, Green Lakes Trail, the Crater Ditch Trail, and the Broken Top Crater Trail. All these trails have their own unique visual attractions and different time frames at which they are at their floral apex. This of course means that , as a backcountry photographer I’m forced to make several photographic journeys to Broken Top every year. What torture. Tam McArthur Rim is one of the first Hikes my wife and I did when we moved to Oregon. It is beautiful, rugged, not too difficult, and easily accesible from the city of Sisters, Oregon, where we lived at the time. We now live in Bend, Oregon but the Sisters area still holds a special place in our hearts.
One of my favorite images of Tam McArthur Rim, which extends eastward from the shoulders of Broken Top and is highly visible from the city of Sisters is found below.
Middle Sister, North Sister, Mt Washington, Three Fingered Jack, and Mt. Jefferson as seen from Tam McArthur Rim
This shot was taken from Tam McArthur Rim and displays Middle Sister, North Sister, Mt. Washington, Three Fingered Jack and Mt. Jefferson to the far right. Obviously it was a spectacular sunset, one well worth the hike and even worth the uneasy feeling that comes with a cold hike out in the dark of night. Another of my favorite locations on Broken Top is the area covered by Broken Top Trail. This trail starts at a high elevation and stays there. The next image is from a couple years ago but I’m still fond of it. It was taken in the glacial basin at the southern end of the Broken Top trail.
Broken Top as seen from the end of the Broken Top Trail with a wildflower foreground in Central Oregon.
Finally I’ll include several images from a recent series of explorations on the east side of Broken Top. I scouted this area several times within the same week and decided the flowers would soon climax. I then made sunrise outings on consecutive mornings to appropriately capture what I considered an exceptional floral display with a gorgeous back drop of Broken Top’s crater. The first morning, the light was poor and it was very hazy due to forest fires in the vicinity. The next was different. I awoke at 3:30 AM grabbed my enormous backpack full of cameras and lenses and drove to Sparks Lake to determine if the conditions warranted a long drive down forest service road 1370 with an hour long off trail hike carrying 50 pounds of gear to follow, all before sunrise. The conditions at Sparks Lake were questionable at best. Broken Top was completely obscured except for occasional glimpses of its summit. I envisioned moody light enhancing an already gorgeous foreground backed by the theatre of Broken Top’s pinnacles intertwined with misty morning clouds. This was one of those mornings where I gambled and won! Below are several images I’m thrilled with and I feel the best is yet to come. Only on exceptional occasions like this do I shoot with my 4×5 camera with the hope that a beautiful fine art print will be the ultimate reward. When the light was at its most dramatic, I utilized my 4×5 film camera and when it was less optimal, I shot with my high end digital SLR. So, what you see are essentially the second class images from a special morning. I’ll let everyone know if the prints come out as well as I hope they will. Regardless, enjoy the next few images and please let me know which you prefer by leaving comments at the end of this article.
Central Oregon's broken Top shrouded in mystic clouds and fronted by a beautiful field of flowers.
Broken Top with a foreground of Indian paintbrush, senecio, larkspur and pink monkeyflowers
Even Mt. Bachelor posed for a few images.
Overall it was a beautiful and rewarding morning in one of my favorite backcountry locations, high on the flanks of Broken Top Mountain, in the heart of the Central Oregon Cascades.
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