BUSINESS  NEWS
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
A11
Brunkow enjoys Joseph photography business
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Due to its inherent
beauty, Wallowa County
tends to attract a lot of pho-
tographers. David Brunkow
is one of the latest to set up
shop in Wallowa County at
his storefront at 207 N. Main
St. in Joseph.
Born and raised in Port-
land, Brunkow eventu-
ally made his way to Lake
Oswego and moved to the
Wallowa Valley about three
years ago. He remembered
vacationing at Wallowa
Lake State Park as a boy.
“That’s when the hook
got set,” he said. “I learned
a lot about the culture and
a lot about the people, and
how can you not like the
landscape, even as a young
person?”
As he became a corpo-
rate photographer, he hired
on with Cycle Oregon for
15 years, which allowed him
to make more trips to to this
area, which reinforced his
idea that this was where he
wanted to be.
“My story is, I said to
myself: ‘When I grow up, I
want to live over here,’ so I
fi gure I’m almost grown up
and maybe I’m a little ahead
of the game.”
Brunkow said he fell into
the craft purely by accident.
He started attending college
to pursue a dentistry degree
and realized it wasn’t where
he wanted to be. He went to
Steve Tool/Chieftain
At your service — photographer David Brunkow set up shop at 207 N. Main St. in Joseph.
The shop has Brunkow photos as well as coasters, cards and other items that feature his
photography.
work in a factory and a
girlfriend who worked
in a hotel gave him a
camera that a customer
left and never returned
to claim. The camera
was an old Kodak 35
mm fi lm camera that
had to have the back
taped shut.
“I took some pictures
that I liked and other peo-
ple liked, and little by little
I started doing some land-
scapes, not really knowing
what I was doing,” he said.
A friend eventually hired
him to do a daughter’s wed-
David Brunkow
ding. Brunkow also found
an opportunity to further his
skills at a darkroom rental
business in Portland. There,
he saw the work of other
photographers and gleaned
more information and skills
from them, including his
most important lesson:
IN BRIEF
‘Chasing the Moon’
On Thursday, June 20,
at 7 PM, the Wallowa City
Library will present an
American Experience fi lm
that documents the historic
fi rst American moon landing,
50 years ago.
It includes previously
unreleased videos and other
information about Neil Arm-
strong and Buzz Aldrin’s
experiences and their historic
walk across the lunar surface.
Admission is free. The
hour-long fi lm will be shown
in the Wallowa City Hall’s
meeting room.
“It was such a monumen-
tal event,” said librarian Deb-
bie Lind. “It’s important that
we remember it, and learn
from it.”
Lind worked hard to
bring the fi lm to Wallowa
County. “I talked to the peo-
ple in charge of distribut-
ing it. They were in Minne-
apolis. They said they only
were providing it to places
where the audience was 50 or
more people. I didn’t want to
sound snooty, but I said that
this was a small town, and,
well, if they didn’t think we
deserved to see the fi lm, they
didn’t have to send it.” The
DVD arrived in Lind’s mail-
box this week.
Ellen Morris Bishop
A young concert-goer dances to the toe-tapping music of
GhostWind at the Wallowa City’s fund-raising concert last
week.
by Ghost Wind, the Wal-
lowa musical duo of Larry
and Peggy Haney. Their
concert was a fund-raiser
for a new outdoor mural for
the west-facing wall of the
library building. About 40
“Photography is
all about the light
— it has nothing to
do with what kind
of camera you have;
it’s your eye and the
light,” he said.
His biggest break
came when he got
hurt at his factory
job and became friends with
his physician. The two even-
tually became skiing part-
ners and photos he’d taken
of his friend were noticed by
the doctor’s wife, who hap-
pened to work as an execu-
tive secretary for Toyota’s
‘I’M THE LUCKIEST GUY IN
THE WORLD AS FAR AS I’M
CONCERNED, BEING ABLE
TO DO PHOTOGRAPHY.’
people of all ages listened
to the toe-tapping coun-
try and folk refrains of the
group.
“We’ve wanted to do a
new mural on the wall for a
long time. And this was one
way to get the community
involved, have some fun,
and raise some money,”
said librarian Debbie Lind.
Library board member
Mary Hawkins obtained
a grant for $7000 to pre-
pare the surface of the out-
side wall for painting. Art-
ist and board member Anna
Vogel has agreed to create
the artwork.
“We raised $330 at that
one event,” Lind said. “I’m
thinking we might have
more summer evening con-
certs in the library garden.”
“Anyplace,” he said. “I
like it out at Hat Point, I like
it at Buckhorn. You can’t go
wrong up at the lake; there’s
so many views there.” He
noted many of his photos
locations are easily accessi-
ble by car.
“What I’m really trying to
do here is promote Wallowa
County and the beauty of it,”
he said.
Brunkow said that he
opened his Joseph storefront,
which he shares with two
other businesses, in Octo-
ber of last year, and it’s his
fi rst. Along with his excel-
lent photographs, he also
sells tile murals, dishwash-
er-safe ceramic mugs, coast-
ers, magnets and cards. His
photos are printed on fi ne
art paper with fade-resistant
ink. Brunkow noted Epson
tests show the ink should last
about 200 years.
“If it only lasts 100 years
come back and see me,” he
said with a laugh.
The photographer knows
how fortunate he is to turn
a hobby he loves into an
opportunity to make a living.
“Truly, I’m blessed and
happy as heck,” he said. “I’m
the luckiest guy in the world
as far as I’m concerned,
being able to do photogra-
phy. I’m here where I want to
be and have a shop on Main
Street in Joseph — I could
die a happy man tomorrow.”
Contact Brunkow at
the shop, or by telephone:
503-784-2566
general manager of the Port-
land region. In 1983 they
hired him to take photos at
a presentation ceremony
and set his career path. Nike
eventually hired him, and
the two companies became
his two biggest accounts.
The biggest change Brun-
kow has seen over the years
was the change from fi lm to
a digital format, and he was
initially reluctant to make the
switch. He noted some issues
during photography assign-
ments with the Ladies Pro-
fessional Golf Association
when digital couldn’t shoot
fast enough to take several
photos during a golf swing.
Once that issue was resolved,
he never looked back.
Rather than use Photo-
shop on his work, Brun-
kow’s photos are composed
using High Dynamic Range,
which combines fi ve expo-
sures together for the photo.
He said famed nature pho-
tographer Ansel Adams used
a similar method. The pho-
tos are created with a pro-
gram called Photomatix.
Brunkow said photo-
graphing Toyota’s presi-
dent’s awards are his favor-
ite shoots because it allows
him to travel around the
country. He noted the com-
pany treats him well and the
opportunity allowed him to
see places he wouldn’t have
seen otherwise.
Asked his favorite place
to shoot locally, Brunkow
laughed.
WALLOWA COUNTY
Health Line
519 W. North Street, Enterprise
541.426.3413
Mon-Thurs 9 to Noon/1-5pm; Fri. 9-1
The Josephy Center for Arts and Culture
Invites you to a celebration
and installation of
‘etweyé·wise
“We took
our daughter to
Dr. Allen on several
occasions, and we
were extremely
happy with the care
we received…”
“The Return”
A sculpture in granite and bronze
by Nez Perce artist Doug Hyde
-Enterprise Mom
Saturday ,
Dr. Allen is a family
practice physician and
doctor of osteopathic
medicine.
June 22, at 2:00pm
Drums - Words - Salmon
Call Dr. Allen to
schedule your appointment today!
541-426-7900
Concert helps fund
new library mural
603 Medical Parkway
The weather was per-
fect for the evening show
(next to Wallowa
Memorial Hospital)
Enterprise, Oregon 97828
Mountain View Medical Group
We treat you like family
601 Medical Parkway, Enterprise, OR 97828 • 541-426-3111 • www.wchcd.org
Wallowa Memorial Hospital is a equal opportunity mployer and provider
BARGAINS OF THE MONTH ®
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Tuesday at 12pm.
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Contact Jennifer today
for all your advertising needs!
at jcooney@ wallowa.com • 541-805-9630

Sale Ends 6/30/19
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