Wild Desert Calendar Submissions

Bruce Couch

Calling all photographers! Use your creativity and talent to support conservation! Submit your best shots of Oregon’s high desert for a chance to have your photos featured in our iconic Wild Desert Calendar.

ONDA’s Wild Desert Calendar

  • Is the only published collection of images devoted exclusively to Oregon’s high desert
  • Is a unique volunteer-led effort to inspire action to protect and restore public lands and waters and wildlife habitat
  • Reaches a broad audience — the Wild Desert Calendar is mailed to all ONDA members and is sold by retail vendors across Oregon
2023 deadline

The final deadline for 2023 was June 15, 2022. For more opportunities to share photos that capture the natural beauty of central and eastern Oregon’s high desert with ONDA, sign up for our volunteer photographers list.

Prize details

Submit one or more images and you’ll be entered in to a drawing for an “explore the desert” prize package that features gear and goods from MiiR, COAST, Arcade and MicroBiome Bars.

Featured landscape image photographers will enjoy drinkware from MiiR. Featured detail image photographers will level up with a copy of Photography Birds: Field Techniques and the Art of the Image, courtesy of Mountaineers Books. And, featured people image photographers will have their path ahead brightened by a new headlamp by COAST.

fact

Swallowtail

Swallowtail

The Oregon Swallowtail butterfly is the official state insect of Oregon and a true native of the Pacific Northwest. The Swallowtail can be seen in the lower sagebrush canyons of the Columbia River and its tributaries, including the Snake River drainage area.  Source: State Symbols USA

Latin name: Papilio oregonius

success

Central Oregon’s “Backyard Wilderness”

Central Oregon’s “Backyard Wilderness”

Our quest to protect the Oregon Badlands

Located just 15 miles east of Bend, Oregon Badlands is a 30,000-acre wilderness area filled with fascinating lava flows and ancient juniper trees Arriving in the Badlands, so named for its rugged and harsh terrain, can feel like stepping

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watch

Stewardship Fence Building Timelapse

Stewardship Fence Building Timelapse

Five tips for the best chance of being featured

  1. Include a variety of shots. We need large-scale landscape images and also small-scale shots of plants, animals, insects, petroglyphs, and other desert details and small wonders.
  2. Show us desert-loving people. There are many ways to enjoy the desert — birding, hiking, camping, fishing, biking and more — and all sorts of people who appreciate this landscape. While we don’t need all your family photos, we’d love to see some shots capturing people’s enthusiasm and love for the high desert!  
  3. Think natural and public. Photos of roads, power lines or other signs of permanent human development are unlikely to be selected. Photos of private lands and non-native species will not be considered.
  4. Focus on ONDA priorities. We love to feature the places we are focused on protecting and restoring. Learn about our priority regions or check out our Featured Projects for specific ideas. (For example, Smith Rock State Park is beautiful, but ONDA doesn’t work there.)
  5. Look to the past. A past edition of our Wild Desert Calendar will give you a good sense for the kinds of photos we’ve loved before.

About the Photographers

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How to Take Better Photos of Oregon’s High Desert

Author: Lace Thornberg  |  Published: March 9, 2018  | Updated: May 5, 2022  |  Categories: How-to   Five landscape photographers share their advice: knowledge, persistence, patience The arid landscape that covers […]

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