I now have hard evidence of more than one Bigfoot near Blue River, Oregon!

A fellow photographer went up to Blue River on Saturday morning to do a little shooting. This venue was something that neither one of us had watched or shot in the past. It was the Chainsaw Art Festival in Blue River.

There were about ten carvers from around the country taking part in creating works for sale and in competition. Carvings ranged in size from some pond turtles not much over a foot across to a Bigfoot about ten feet tall and there were a number of park benches that were about eight feet long. Competition included starting with a whole log blank with the bark on it and ending up with a finished carving in one hour.

The tools used were as varied as the finished products. I counted seven different chainsaws in one carvers work area all with different size and shape bars on them. Angle grinders, over-size rotary grinders and hand tools including hammers and chisels were to be seen. Another well used tool was the propane torch for burning the wood to bring out grain detail was found in about all camps. Some were the small hand held variety that you see on most work benches and others were using the large size that connect to the five gallon tanks. Leaf blowers were used to blow off chips and dust as they worked.

It was a great way to kill three hours and see an art form that many never get the chance to see. Beach cities have sand castles and the artists with chainsaws play in the hills. Be sure to click on the images below for the larger images. All images were taken with a Canon 7D and 70-200mm F4 IS lens.

These are hand held images taken on Fremont Street in Las Vegas, Nevada on Fremont Street. Remember, when you play and lose, you are the one paying the light bill. Be sure to click on the small image to view the large version.