Bad Lands Senior Portrait

The Bad Lands are quickly becoming one of my favorite Central Oregon sites for portraits. The backdrop of ancient juniper, sage, and lava rock portrays a dramatic element of this area.  

It can easily be imagined populations living here well before anything modern.  Flatiron and Castle Rocks seem like condos for the once itinerate bands of Paiutes (and earlier) moving across the Great Basin.

The area has recently been protected from motorized vehicles. One can walk or bike a number of miles on one of the few trails, and many more cross country.  Though I post this online, I do hope the area remains a quiet, unmolested spot for pedestrians and photographers alike.

In the shot is Tyler Andyke.  From his senior portrait session.

Women of the West

This week has given me the opportunity to meet and photograph two women differing in pursuit, but not in spirit.  Both women appreciate expressing themselves with physical effort and movement throughout the western landscape, searching for something allusive.

 

Jessica Hickman, a fitness trainer in Bend, Oregon competes in body sculpture events.  She tells me competition is the culmination of much dedicated training and discipline.  More than competing against others, she says, the events highlight one being their best at the moment.  I photographed her at Smith Rocks.  

Robby Bacon is a Buckaroo, a working cowboy in the Great Basin.  Though she couldn't answer how many women work in the toilsome, low paying, and masculine world of ranch hand, she knows there are not many.  As such she is hired by ranches to push cattle with her dogs and leather trappings riding horseback over the rocky, sage pocked slopes in the open range between Northern California and Utah.  When the work is done, she moves on to the next ranch hiring.  Being an authentic cowboy is difficult for anyone due to it's loneliness and unpredictability.  It's a young bachelor's life.  So Robby stands out, and is well respected at the Five-Dot Ranch out of Standish, CA.

Nevada: Wild Horses and Suburbia

In Nevada.  Have had opportunity to photograph some mustangs in the foothills above Sparks, Washoe County, and to contemplate on the meaning of the American dream.  

Where have we come from, where going...?

According the the Reno-Gazette Journal (4.17.09), every one in 56 homes are in foreclosure, whereas in Washoe County, one in every 124 houses is.

Check out my stock site for more images.

Bend Budo

Kobudo instructor John Pritchard of Bend Aiki Martial Arts poses for me in his dojo in Bend, Oregon this first week of April.

Wearing traditional Iaido garments, including hakama, obi, and iai-kiogi, he demonstrates a series of sword handling techniques.

John, a yondan in Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu Iaido, says "Iaido is one of the oldest classic forms of Budo, and closely reflects upon life and death."

"Iaido" he illustrates, "is largely a solitary pursuit where the practitioner continues to refine highly controlled, precise movements in response to combative situations involving one ore more imaginary attackers."

It is performed in a calm, solemn manner, requiring concentration and focus as careful repetition is used to polish the techniques.

This is a martial art that is both intellectual and physical. It's based on sword warriorship where death is on the line. Much of the practice focuses on footwork, body positioning,

and movement of the sword. It is steeped in the philosophical concepts of being an introspective warrior.

View more of gallery at http://blackandredphotography.com/bendbudo.html

Cold Days in Bend, Oregon

Winter is here. Snow is on the ground and in the mountains. Locals are experiencing cold times as temperatures hover in the teens and recession realities cut deeper into consciousness. Businesses are hurting if not going under. Job security is questionable. Construction is in hibernation. Tourists, who stimulate much to the economy, are far away.

The Federal government is too busy in its own transformation to notice us here on the border of rural and urban Oregon. Even the State government seems too buried in budget stagnation to glance this way.

On this first day of winter, does Bend look forward to a brighter and warming future? Where are we heading, and at what cost?