Emerald Bay Photography News and Updates

Random Image for the Day:


Mountain Bluebird - Mt. Jefferson in the background

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, oregon stock photography, photography

I'm not a birder. Really. I'm not. I just happen to live in a house that looks at the world at mid-tree level - with very large windows. And since that's where birds tend to live, I see a lot of them. So I have a mild interest in them. Especially the colorful ones.

When I first moved to Central Oregon, I actually took an informal survey of bird species that would visit my feeders year-round. I counted something like 42. Over the past 3 years now, I've come to know them all pretty well. So I notice when there's suddendly a new species around. Mostly one that doesn't belong here.

This has been the case with two new species I've come across over the past couple of weeks. One was this Blackbacked Woodpecker:



The Audubon Guide tells me that this uncommon woodpecker resides largely up North, in an area stretching from Western Alaska all the way over to the East Coast of Canada.

Then, two days ago, I saw a Redbreasted Sapsucker hanging around my feeder. It is supposed to live mainly in coastal areas, from BC down to California. Not in the High Desert of Oregon.

Now maybe those are just a couple of freak sightings - or maybe then again, they are not. Could it be that global warming has started to show its face by encouraging the redistribution of bird territories? I know it's completely hypothetical - but it's possible, isn't it?

Anyone with more info or a similarly unusual sighting, please leave a comment. I want to get to the bottom of this.

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, oregon stock photography, photography

Ok, I admit it - I have an unreasonable obsession with angles and lines. But in my chosen profession as architectural photographer, after all, angles and lines are everything. To me, it doesn't even matter if they're straight, curved, upsight down, crooked, wiggly - as long as they're exciting to look at.

Take this house, for example.



A few weeks ago, I shot this residence for a local Bend architect.



As even the untrained eye can see, the angles on this home are exquisite. The combinations of straight lines with leaned beams, cool glass with warm wood, tinted concrete with natural rock, are beautiful. And unlike 99% of homes here in the area, this one isn't elevated some 30 feet above ground to take advantage of the mountain views (which is does have in abundance) - rather, it is nestled into the ground to blend into the environment and shelter its occupants from the at times strong winds.



And despite its sizable square footage, you never feel like you're in a very large home. It's always intimate, cozy, inviting.

Very cool.

Labels: architectural photographer Bend Oregon, architectural photography, architecture, Bend Oregon photographer, commercial photographer Bend Oregon, photography

Yesterday, I went down to the Deschutes River in La Pine, near Pringle Falls, taking some shots for the Upper Deschutes River Natural Resources Coalition.

The waterlevel looked to be about 6 to 8 feet below normal, exposing the black obsidian on the river's shore, in places whitened by dried algae. An older fisherman I came cross only mutely shook his head when I asked him how the fish were biting, and shuffled off with his head hanging low.

Given what I had to work with, I decided on some close-ups - of which this one here became my favorite:



(By the way, it's all private property down there. I got permission in advance from the homeowners association to access this part of the river, so please, folks, don't go trampling around down there without asking first.)

I later talked to the president of the homeowners association, who told me that every year around this time, the powers in charge of the water supply turn off the faucet at the dam upstream, leaving only just enough water so the fish can survive. It stays that way until spring. The reason is conservation - so the farmers down-stream will have enough supply next summer to water their crops.

Now, I could launch into this long rant about how I detest the practices of the local water-management officials who seem to base their decisions purely on a commercial rationale, and with little regards towards the natural health of the river, its inhabitants and the wildlife who relies on it. But - that would do little good, now would it?

Labels: Bend Oregon photographer, editorial photographer Bend Oregon, Editorial Photography, oregon stock photography, photography