Mike Putnam's photostream  

Proxy Falls, located in the Three Sisters Wilderness Area. Wow, what a beautiful waterfall and what a difficult image to capture, at least for me. I went to Proxy 5 times this summer before I captured anything respectable. Because of heavy snowfall in the Oregon Cascades last winter, the flow over Proxy was very high this summer. I drove the 90 minutes from my home to Proxy falls twice and was denied by conditions that approximated being inside of a shower with cold water on full blast. Not a single image was without intolerable water spots. Because I shoot a 4x5 film camera, exposures are frustratingly long some times. To say the least, this stunning waterfall was not cooperative! After my third trip I began wearing My fly fishing waders because I was knee deep in chilly water most of the time while I was out not getting the shot I was after! After a couple more aborted or failed efforts I finally captured the image you see here, which is just about to be printed. I'd like to send a special thanks to Tim Gallivan and ET078 both who have some very attractive images from Proxy Falls. They, in part inspired me to repeatedly return to this waterfall and fumble around with my 4x5 in knee deep water. Should I thank them or curse them? Just Kidding, thanks guys!

While walking my 9 year old daughter to school this morning, I noticed this beautiful grouping of frosted maple leaves. Autumn is probably my favorite season and its passing always saddens me. this last reminder of how beautiful the fall color can be in Central Oregon brightened my day. I hope it brightens your as well!"

I've been to this spot a bunch of times this summer, and this is definitely my best image to date. The beautiful sunrise colors and misty clouds on the waters of Paulina Lake were pure luck, but I'll take it!

Tumalo Falls is a 97 foot waterfall near my home town of Bend, Oregon. It is also a phenomenal trail head for mountain biking and hiking in the Deschutes National Forest.

Shevlin Park is one of the places that makes my home town of Bend, Oregon special. Several hundred acres of old growth ponderosa forest, countless miles of hiking,mountain biking, and hiking trails, with a beautiful stream right down the middle of it. Despite the beauty of this city park, I've always struggled to capture it on film. it is the sort of place where the sum of its beauty is greater than its parts. I've been trail running here hundreds of times but one autumn day, two years ago, while trail running with my wife, the park was alive with fall color. My marathoner wife wasn't interested in any slow scouting missions, so I returned three times over the next 36 hours and this is my favorite image to come out of those shoots. The vibrant riparian color, melded with the subdued high desert is part of what defines this beautiful city park. I hope you enjoy it!