Join me for the Palouse Harvest Photo Workshop in the wheat fields of Eastern Washington. This is a unique time of year to be in the area, with rolling hills of yellow wheat waiting to be harvested along with freshly tilled soil so dark it is almost black in color.  We will have a wide color palette to create stunning images in this beautiful location. Spring is often the most “popular” time, however harvest is my absolute favorite time to be here as there is so much more to do photographically!  I have many years leading workshops in this area and we know the best spots to get both the iconic and hidden gems in this area. The rolling hills of wheat, barley, lentils with country roads punctuated by over 100-year-old barns lends itself to a photographer’s paradise.  The subject matter is endless. The “Palouse” area is located in Southeastern Washington where the major towns are Pullman, Washington and Moscow, Idaho.

The Palouse

If you’ve never photographed the Palouse, you owe yourself the opportunity to do it.  The vast and far reaching wheat fields, barns and old buildings and lots of Americana dominate the experience here.  During the Spring, the wheat is a beautiful shade of green, providing a nice contrast to the weathered wood and blue skies.  Photographing this time of year can be challenging and creatively rewarding.

However, when we visit the Palouse area during the harvest time in August, things are much different…equally beautiful and more demanding creatively. This is why I chose to offer my MasterClass during the harvest time.  We typically experience mature wheat fields waiting to be harvested, on to cut fields and then the dark earth of recently plowed fields. The color palette has shifted from one or two shades of green in the spring to a wide palette of yellows and browns so we have much more color variation, along with the amazing lights and shadows, to utilize in our compositions.

We also have more design elements to play with in our photographs during the harvest than we do in the spring.  When the fields are first cut, there are lines in the fields that turn out to be an important compositional element.  They also add an additional challenge to the photographer in figuring out how to integrate those lines in the composition so they add to the shot, not detract from it.

I’ve always said that the Palouse is on my top 3 list of most challenging places to shoot, on par with Death Valley and the Hoh Rainforest.  As an artist, I enjoy visiting challenging locations because it pushes me to be better and think differently to come away with pleasing images.  During the Palouse harvest, this challenge is invigorating and exciting because of the incredible palette of possibilities that are in front of us during this time of year.

This makes it the perfect location to explore your creative vision and push the boundaries of how you see and capture the world around you.

Here’s a short video from my 2021 harvest workshops

Fitness Level: Easy

All locations close to the cars and we will be on maintained level ground.

Logistics

You can fly in directly to Spokane or Seattle Washington. We will be based in Colfax WA, which puts us in a prime location for many of the locations we will visit.   We will travel each day from the hotel to our locations and return at various times for rest and/or image reviews.  More information will be sent to you after registration.