About Hillestad

For the 1st quarter century, I grew up in Ashland, Oregon. College was U of Oregon and then Michigan Law School with an interlude in the US Army serving in the 101st Airborne Division.

I have always been lucky enough to live in gorgeous places like Colorado and the Oregon Coast. Currently, home is McMinnville, Oregon, the heart of Pinot Noir Wine Country.

My career was as an attorney specializing in real estate and business law to earn a living while supporting pro bono environmental and historic preservation activities.

Photography however from high school on has been a private passion. I am inspired most by Eliot Porter and Ansel Adams. I feel fortunate that I actually got to meet the latter a few times before he died. I only wish I had had the opportunity to meet the former.

With the pandemic, most of my images are shot within a couple of hundred feet from my home. Fortunately that incluces a large pond which attracts 65 bird species I've identified so far, plus herds of deer, masses of frogs, dragonflies, an occasional beaver, a family of otters and miscellaneous other four footed or winged creatures. They provide delightful opportunities to study.