Wild Desert Calendar Submissions

About ONDA’s Wild Desert Calendar 

The only published collection of images devoted exclusively to Oregon’s high desert, this unique publication inspires action to protect and restore public lands, waters and wildlife habitat.

A volunteer-led effort, the calendar is now in its 21st year of publication and features many generous, talented and passionate photographers. The Wild Desert Calendar is loved by many and reaches a broad audience. The publication is mailed to all ONDA members and is sold by retail vendors across Oregon.

Submit Photos

The submission period for the 2026 Wild Desert Calendar is now closed. Check back in 2026 for our next submission period.

2026 Submission Period

The calendar submission period opened on Tuesday, April 1, 2025 and closed on Friday, June 6, 2025. 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.

Prizes

If you submitted one or more images this year, you’ll be entered into a drawing for an “explore the desert” prize package that features gear and goods from MiiR, Patagonia, Tillak, Arcade, CNOC Outdoors and more.

Additional prizes will be presented to featured landscape image photographers, featured detail image photographers and featured people image photographers.

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. We often receive photos of the desert in the summer and fall, but are often lacking winter images, which we highly value.
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. Consider engaging in Nature First Principles.
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 recent work for specific ideas. (For example, Smith Rock State Park is beautiful, but ONDA doesn’t work there.) This year, we’re particularly interested in images from Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and Lake Abert to support our timely work here.
5. Look to the past. Past editions of our Wild Desert Calendar will give you a good sense for the kinds of photos we’ve loved before. (For example, we’ll only select phone images for detail or people subjects.)

For more tips, watch our YouTube video on choosing locations and types of imagery.