For many years, I thought lavender fields are only in Valensole, France. However, it wasn’t until last year I realized how many lavender fields there are in the world, including the states.

Last year I saw this location on Instagram and knew I need to see it for myself. It’s definitely closer than France and has an amazing backdrop of the mountain. It took some digging to find this location, as all I knew was it was in Oregon. But since you’re here on my site, I’ll share it with you. This place is Lavender Valley, located in Hood River, Oregon. They’re open daily from 10 AM – 5PM, which was unfortunate for us because golden hours and sunset times during July are around 7PM-9PM.

On our first full day there, we spent our day exploring multiple places around the region. Close to sunset time, we started driving to the lavender farm without checking the opening hours. Once I did check, I realized they were closed so I started calling them hoping they’d pick up. Their phone line seemed to be dead, which gave me some hope the farm could still be open.

Sure enough, the farm was closed for the day when we arrived. I could see endless rows of lavender across the fence and wanted so badly to squeeze between it. Nevertheless, there was an amazing view of Mt Hood across the street, so we took a few shots there and continued driving into Hood River National Forest to catch the last bit of sunset. We definitely didn’t want to waste a perfect sunset.

The following day we drove back to the lavender farm since their phone line still didn’t work. We arrived around 2PM where I met the nice staff in the gift shop. She told me they have been issues with their phone line and I asked her about shooting during sunset hours. She explained I could book a private shoot for $100 per hour with a minimum of 2 hours. However, entrance during the opening hours is free of charge.

We took some test shots to see if the colors were doable at 2PM and in the end decided to book for the sunset shoot. We drove back to our Airbnb, ate and rested a bit before getting ready and heading back out.

This was my first private shoot and private flower field. I can’t believe I had the whole place to myself. It felt amazing! You can see Mt Hood in the distance, which made an incredible backdrop with the shed and lavender fields. The colors were mesmerizing as it got closer to sunset time. We took our time to get all the shots and made great memories from it, together. Overall, this was one of my favorite shooting experiences ever! I highly recommend this.

Thank goodness I timed my travel dates correctly, the lavenders were still in full bloom. Like any other lavender fields around the world, these fields are seasonal and bloom between the months of late June to early August.

Things I’d consider before visiting this lavender field or any other:

• I would check the current condition of the lavenders through Instagram location’s recent pictures. Since Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms, there will always be some new updates on the lavender field from someone.
• Don’t make a mistake like me and actually check the opening hours. If the sunset hours in your location falls during the closing time, get in touch with the farm to see what options you may have. Otherwise, settle with shooting during their opening hours. You could get amazing shots regardless!
• Be aware of bees! I got stung during the day time when I took my test shots. There were tons of them flying, but during sunset time, most of them went to sleep.

There are other lavender fields and multiple wineries in the vicinity as well that you could check out as well! Hood River Lavender Farm has a lavender festival annually. I drove by them and saw they had a section for hanging out with your friends and family with live entertainment!

Let me know what you think!