Desire Rukundo · Photographer · 2025

Desire
Rukundo.
000
01 / 06
Photographer · Est. 2020 Desire Rukundo Portland, Oregon · 45.5°N 122.7°W
DESIRE
Photographer · East Africa → Pacific Northwest
RUKUNDO
Commercial & Editorial Photography
Exploring two continents through the lens.
Scroll

The story behind the lens

Origin · Identity · Exploration
01 Uganda East Africa · 0.3°N 32.6°E

Red soil, vast skies, and a light that exists nowhere else on earth. The warmth in every frame Desire makes traces back here — to the country that taught him how to see.

02 Oregon Pacific Northwest · 45.5°N 122.7°W

Rain-dark forests, open highways, and the quiet drama of the American West. Oregon gave Desire the landscape, the culture, and the brands that needed a new kind of eye.

The tension between these two worlds is the photograph.

Selected work

Drag · Click to open
Wrangler Jeans01 · Commercial
No. 001 · 11 images
Wrangler Jeans
Commercial · Lifestyle · Manzanita Beach, OR

Shot on the Oregon coast at Manzanita Beach — wind, sea fog, and denim that looks like it was meant to be worn there.

+
Travel Oregon02 · Editorial
No. 002 · 18 images
Travel Oregon
Editorial · Landscape · Highway 101, OR Coast

The full length of Highway 101 — headland to headland, fishing town to open ocean, fog to golden hour.

+
Salt Athletic03 · Brand
No. 003 · 12 images
Salt Athletic
Commercial · Brand · Salem, Oregon

Visual identity for a soccer tech startup behind the Aērcase — 75,000 athletes worldwide and growing. Shot in Salem with real players.

+
Cinch Jeans04 · Lifestyle
No. 004 · 9 images
Cinch Jeans
Commercial · Lifestyle · Rural Beaverton, OR

Shot at a working horse ranch in rural Beaverton — real fences, real horses, denim already broken in before we arrived.

+
Theorie Music05 · Music
No. 005 · 15 images
Malcom — Theorie
Music · Portrait · Portland, Oregon

Feature shoot for an upcoming Seattle-based rapper — portraits built around the music, not in spite of it.

+
Porsche06 · Automotive
No. 006 · 15 images
Porsche
Automotive · Salem, Oregon

Shot in the Willamette Valley outside Salem — empty roads, morning fog, a Porsche in a landscape that wasn't trying to compete with it.

+
01 / 06
Drag ←→
"

Philosophy

"My camera moves between two worlds — the red soil of Uganda and the rain-dark forests of Oregon. That tension is the work. That tension is what makes a viewer stop and feel something."

Desire Rukundo · Photographer · Portland, Oregon · 2025

Desire Rukundo
DR

About

Desire Rukundo.

Ugandan-born. Portland-based. A photographer whose lens lives between two continents — carrying the warmth of East Africa into the commercial and editorial landscape of the American West.

Available for commercial commissions, editorial features, and portrait work across Oregon and beyond.

mylifeasdesire@icloud.com

Portland, Oregon
Available Worldwide
Commercial · Editorial · Portrait

Selected Clients

Wrangler Jeans
Porsche
Travel Oregon
Stetson USA
Cinch Jeans
Ridge Wallet
Salt Athletic
Understated Leather
Ekster Wallet
Southern Marsh

As Seen In

From the blog

Latest · March 2026
Nikon D610 Review
Gear Review

Nikon D610 — An FX Full-Frame Review

I didn't plan on reviewing it. I just brought it along. Shot at University Falls, Oregon with the Let's Go Touch Grass hiking group.

Read the full review
Talk.

Get in Touch

Let's makesomethinggreat.

Open to commercial commissions, editorial features, and portrait work — wherever the work demands.

mylifeasdesire@icloud.com

Portland, Oregon
Available Worldwide
Commercial · Editorial · Portrait

Hire me. → Commission
Send a message
Reply within 48 hrs

Thank you — I'll be in touch within 48 hours.