• Alfred Lord Tennyson.

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The main reason why Bend Oregon, is one of our favorite towns to visit on the west coast is due to the diversity of its landscape. A short drive to the west will get you into alpine lakes, active volcanos, and coniferous forests while a trip to the east will get you to the deserted part of the state. There are amazing formations like gigantic lava bubbles that burst to form rocky fort formations and rolling hills that got covered in multi-colored ashes during the various volcanic eruptions caused by the cascade mountain range.

We found our favorite location near Bend only on our second trip, and it’s the beautiful sparks lake. If you would have asked me to sketch the perfect alpine landscape scene, I am pretty sure that the sketch will match the view from the shores of Sparks Lake. No wonder that it’s the poster child for Bend’s tourism board. This photo is from our first visit to the beautiful lake, we drove here for sunrise, but I had no particular locations in mind for sunrise shots. My wife was not feeling well, so we decided that she would rest in the car, so I was on my own for the day. The nearest spot I found was lovely, but after taking some shots there, I got bored of the location, so I moved on, after a short hike, I found a ledge from which I could see the view of a rock outcropping with a tine tree hanging on for dear life. I decided to make the tiny tree my foreground element that will provide the depth required to anchor the whole scene.

• Zhuangzi.

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One of the surprise locations of our Oregon trip was the stunningly beautiful Sparks Lake near the cozy little town of Bend. It was not really part of my original trip itinerary but I added it based on a photo I saw n a Bend travel brochure. I was a bit unsure about the location until we drove into Bend and saw huge panoramic shots of Sparks lake on a huge billboard.

This is not a particularly hard location to shoot as pretty much anywhere you look you have stunning vistas. The challenge is to take pics which convey the grandness of scene. I wanted to take a panorama shot, the moment I saw this scene and once the rising sun obliged with morning light that streamed over the mountain peaks. Hope you all like it.

• Francis of Assisi.

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This shot of the incomparable Sparks Lake is arguably my favorite shot from our summer road trip to Oregon. When you compare all the little spots in the US which we have explored Bend, OR has to be right up there on the top of the list as one of the most interesting little towns for a photographer. A short drive to the west will find you in the foothills of the Cascade Range and within hiking distances of many Alpine lakes while a drive east will provide access to desert wonders like Fort Rock and painted hills.

I made this shot at the beautiful Sparks Lake, which is an easily accessible lake with camping facilities and all around stunning view of the South Sister (visible in this image) along with Broken Top and Mt Bachelor. This shot was taken about 30 minutes after sunrise when the warm morning light started to filter in through the caved part of Broken Top. I was really glad I stuck around for this shot.

Love prefers twilight to daylight...

• Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

One of the best things I like about Oregon is how unassuming some of the most stunning locations are. The first time we visited Oregon, we spend a couple of days in Bend but completely missed the stunning Sparks lake. On our second visit, luckily I saw a billboard for Oregon tourism with sparks lake as the main attraction but in true Oregon fashion, they didn't name the location. Thankfully my google tracking skills were on point and I managed to find this lovely location and we spend a brilliant sunrise there.

This happened with Abiqua Falls as well and we in fact turned back about a mile away from one of the most famous waterfalls in the state because we couldn't figure out the turn to the parking lot. Yup, there was not a single sign, I figured it out a year later and returned to get my pics and was kicking myself for turning around while I was so close. While it was frustrating at the moment, as I look back I really appreciate how these spots still maintain their wildness by not being tourist traps.

• Antoine Rivarol.

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This shot was taken at the beautiful Sparks lake during our second road trip of Oregon. The first time we visited, I didn’t even know that this place existed and spend a couple of days in Bend visiting other more famous attractions around the area. On the last day we were leaving I noticed this Bend tourism poster with a beautiful lake on it and recognized the broken top mountain. I asked around and surprisingly few people knew about it. Finally, I met a fellow photographer who gave me the name of the lake and I made a point to include it as a must-have spot the next time we visited Oregon.

And three years later we were at the beautiful lakeshore of the stunning Sparks Lake. Unfortunately, my wife fell ill the day before and had a miserable morning at the park. I had to frantically look for a good spot while she rested up in the car. I found this spot which was a short stroll from the parking lot and took this panorama stitch image of warm morning light slowly filling on the mountainside. The water was perfectly still that morning and I got the almost perfect reflection.