This photo was taken in the Steens Mountain Wilderness in southeast Oregon. Oregon is an incredibly diverse state, with landscapes ranging from ocean cliffs to rainforests to high deserts.
Our home is in the Coast Range of western Oregon, and we try to make the 6-hour drive over to Steens Mountain once or twice each year. Our goal is often Mustang photography, as Steens Mountain is home to a large herd. However, it's impossible to visit the Steens and not be taken by the vastness and wildness of the place.
This photo was taken in early June, at about 7:30 in the evening. Days are long and typically very hot and sunny in the high desert in June so most landscape photography has to be done at sunrise (which is VERY early in June), or at sunset.
We spent the day photographing mustangs, went back to camp for dinner, and then headed out again for sunset photos. We had just left camp when I spotted this lone juniper tree on a small, rocky knoll, with Steens Mountain in the background.
The light was just beginning to pick up the colors of sunset, and the sky had become dramatic, with a summer storm brewing. My partner patiently waited while I took photos of the tree from different angles (a big shout-out to patient partners everywhere!).
I needed to take several different photos, as the appearance and mood changed depending on where I placed the tree in the shot. My favorite was this one, taken slightly below the tree and high enough to see Steens Mountain in the background but without the mountains overwhelming the tree as the focus of the photo.
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Dimitri Vasileiou • Editor