Wordless Wednesday
Sod House Ranch, Malheur NWR: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Photography
The Road To… Oregon: LAPC
The curving road
Here are some curving roads to various scenic destinations in Oregon. When you’re driving down the road you never know what sights you’ll see just around the bend.
What is straight? A line can be straight, or a street, but the human heart, oh, no, it’s curved like a road through mountains.
Tennessee Williams
National Park Travels: LAPC
These photos are of our National Park travels within 1,000 miles of our home. We are lucky to live so close to so much beauty.
I tried to consider what was in the foreground as well as the background in these shots.
Painted Hills Monolith: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
2018 Favorite Photos: LAPC
It’s always hard to pick favorite photos at the end of the year. Here are several representing nature, history, and culture. Enjoy and have a great New Year!
Favorite Photos – Nature
Blue Pool Reflections: LAPC
The Artwork of Nature
I visited Blue Pool on a cool September day. Mother Nature was busy there producing colorful works of art. The colors in the pool are unbelievably beautiful and intense. On this day, the warm colors of fall leaves were reflected on the water.
As I mentioned in Blue Pool is a Jewel, the reflections look like Impressionist paintings. I could have stayed there for a long time taking pictures. Can you see why?
Big Cone – Yellowstone Lake: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Seasons – Glimpses of Oregon: LAPC
A dusting of snow: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Corn Flowers: Friday Flowers
“A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine.”
Anne Bronte
Friday Flowers
Saddle Shop: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Making a Splash: LAPC
As you wade through the waters of your life you often end up making a splash. Sometimes you make a big loud splash and other times you need to make a quieter one. Maybe only a ripple. Here are photos of quieter splashes I have seen in Oregon.
Common merganser pair on the Deschutes River
Quote on the Cosmos: Friday Flowers
Other times, you’re doing some piece of work and suddenly you get feedback that tells you that you have touched something that is very alive in the cosmos.
Leonard Nimoy
Friday Flowers
Popcorn Factory: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Viewpoints of Oregon: Photo Challenge
The challenge on Travel with Intent today is Viewpoint.
Here a few viewpoints of Oregon from places I’ve visited. Some are from places labeled as a viewpoint; others are taken where people stop to see a special view.
The Painted Hills in eastern Oregon
The view of a great horned owl nest south of Burns
The view of Mt. Hood from Highway 26
Native American Women, Their Art, and the Photographs of Edward S. Curtis Exhibit
Mother and child – Apsaroka by Edward S. Curtis
The Photographs of Edward S. Curtis in the By Her Hand Exhibit
This exhibition features portraits of Native women by photographer Edward S. Curtis from the collection of Christopher G. Cardozo. Curtis took the featured photographs over a 30-year period as part of a project to document Native American’s lifestyle and culture in a time of change. Curtis traveled across North America from 1900 to 1930 photographing over 80 tribes.
By Her Hand Exhibit of Edward S. Curtis Photos, High Desert Museum, Bend, Oregon
Edward S. Curtis worked out of a studio in Seattle, Washington and received financial support from J. P. Morgan. Curtis collected information about the lives of each tribe through photographs, writings, and audio recordings. With the help of Native translators, he assembled a 20-volume set titled The North American Indian. Curtis intended to publish 500 copies but due to a series of financial and personal setbacks, only about 272 were printed. Ninety percent of the original sets are owned by institutions, including the High Desert Museum.
Pronghorns Prancing: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Branches in a new light: LAPC
These images show branches in a new light…
Reclining and resting in a sea of green
Coated with a covering of snow
Framing a fiery sunrise
Burdened with a bounty of fruit
Shrouded by the smoke of a prescribed burn
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Magical Light
Yellowstone Hidden & Revealed: LAPC
In Yellowstone National Park, much of the wildlife is hidden from view. You have to look carefully to find the animals and sometimes they will reveal themselves to you.
Elk in the Lamar Valley are hidden as they blend into the landscape traveling along a ridge top.
However, when they cross a pond they are revealed. The splashing water draws your attention and their pale colored rumps make you take notice of them.
Fun photos: Photo Bloopers 3
Fun photos
It’s time for some fun photos to go along with the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge theme of Just for Fun. Here are some of my photo bloopers for your enjoyment. This is what I do with some of my photos that don’t turn out quite right.
Grizzly bear and ravens at West Yellowstone, Montana
The Three Gossips at Arches National Park, Utah
Swallows at Summer Lake, Oregon
Fiery Foliage of Fall: FOTD
Textures of Arches National Park
Blacksmith’s Shop: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Looking up at Fort Rock: LAPC
Looking up while looking back
These images from Fort Rock, Oregon focus on looking up. In this photo you see what a town from the early 1900’s may have looked like. Buildings were moved to this site to create the Fort Rock Valley Historical Society Homestead Village Museum. Each building is decorated with artifacts so it’s easy to imagine yourself stepping back in time.
Pioneers were promised rich and fertile land. That was not the reality in this arid high desert. Many settlers moved away after unsuccessfully trying to cultivate the land.
Favorite Tree: Wordless Wednesday, CB&W
Powerful Presence: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Fence King: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Log Cabin Scene: Tuesday Photo Challenge
Cabin scene from the past
Here’s a cabin scene in Torrey, Utah. It looks as though this old building could tell many interesting stories. Lots of drama in those walls…
Tuesday Photo Challenge at Dutch Goes the Photo! – Scene
Winter Ridge from Summer Lake: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Patterns in water: Lens-Artists Challenge
Hard and soft patterns in water
To me, this image of patterns in water looks like the chiseled profile of a white-frosted creature from another world. The shape is echoed in the shoreline across the stream.
Amber Echoes
This image looks like an alien planet where worlds float on pale greenish-gold islands anchored by strong strands of green. Once the worlds are full, they detach from their moorings and float away.
Floating Green Worlds
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Patterns
Apple blossoms: Friday Flowers
McCoin Orchard apple blossoms
I saw these apple blossoms in the McCoin Orchard near the trailhead for the Gray Butte trail. This orchard, near Terrebonne, Oregon, was originally planted in the late 1880s and it was rescued by range specialists 100 years later.
There’s a nice hike here with some spectacular views of the country. The close up views of spring flowers are great as well.
Moo-ving on up: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Soft sights at Sunset Lake: LAPC
A harsh landscape with soft edges
There are many soft sights to see in Yellowstone National Park’s harsh environments. Soft and steaming mist drifts over Sunset Lake. Soft puffy clouds float over rounded hills in the distance.
The colors along the shorelines blend softly into one another giving the lake its name. To me, it is a mystical sort of place that has many stories to tell.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Soft
All spruced up and nowhere to go: Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Bison coming right at you: TWI – Action
Up close and personal with bison
I was glad I was inside my car when I saw these bison coming right at us. Some people think they are calm and tame like a domestic cow. They’re not! Bulls weigh up to 2,000 pounds and cows weigh up to 1,000 pounds. Since they can run up to 30 miles per hour, it’s best to keep your distance.
Here’s another post on them plus a link to more information. Bison Celebrating 4th.
Travel with Intent Photo Challenge – Action
Scooby Doo & Calypso Too: TWI – Dwarf mini
A dwarf mini with big attitude
We used to have two miniature horses. One, Scooby Doo pictured on the left, was a dwarf mini. He stood at only 27″ at the withers. His pedigreed companion, Calypso Blue pictured on the right, stood at 32″. Calypso was calm and even-tempered. Scooby had a lot of personality and let you know it.
When it was time to move, the farrier who trimmed our horse’s hooves took Scooby. He had worked with a lot of horses in his days and could see that Scooby was a big personality in a small package.
Travel with Intent – Dwarf
New About page on Bend Branches
About page story
Yes, that pronghorn is kind of bossy, but I hope you’ll take a minute to look at my “new and improved” About page. Thanks for visiting!
Bend Branches About page
Cooling Otters: Lens-Artists Photo Challenge
Three guys cooling their jets
When it’s as hot as it’s been (102 degrees here yesterday!) I wish I could do a little cooling off by being an otter. Here are three cooling otters in motion.
They always look like they’re having so much fun.
Green Worlds Beneath Me: Photo Challenge – Wonder
Tiny worlds beneath me
I often have to remind myself to look down and notice the worlds beneath me when I’m taking pictures. Here’s a picture of aquatic plants being combed by the waves and highlighted by the sun.
Here’s a picture of a lichen “forest” growing on weathered wood. Worlds of wonder exist in landscapes large and small.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Wonder
Cup of Gold: Friday Flowers
A dawn lily
Here’s a photo I took in the early morning hours of a daylily splashed with rain. It looks like a perfect little cup of gold.
You get a two-fer today since this is being posted under Friday Flowers and Cee’s Flower of the Day . Enjoy!