How to describe what its like photographing the Palouse.  It ranks on my top 3 list of most difficult, and most rewarding, locations to photograph.  The closest analogy I have is that it’s like photographing Death Valley with the abstracts and rolling hills, focusing on shape, light/shadows and textures.

Grain silo in the palouse

I have photographed this area for many years and each time I visit, I am always amazed at how beautiful the landscape is and how much photographic potential there is.  From grand landscapes to intimate details, from Americana to abstracts….its got so much to offer. However, it does take some work to get in to the zone to see creatively in this area.  As I drive in to the region, I start to see the rolling hills and shape of the landscape and my vision starts to adjust to “seeing” creatively.  But honestly, it takes about a day for me to really get in to the zone and get my vision dialed up.  Oftentimes there isn’t an obvious subject like waterfall or mountain, instead what we see are highlights/shadows in different shapes, layered folds of the wheat fields stretching to the distance, a kiss of early morning sunlight on the tops of the folds…it’s a lot of very subtle stuff.  Plus, there are the barns and old towns that are throwbacks to the 1950s America.

One of the highlights of the trip each year is visiting Daves Old Truck Rescue up in Sprague.  We invite our clients to join us a day early to drive up and visit this lot filled with rusting trucks from the 40’s-60’s.  Left exposed to the elements, these trucks are slowly decaying, but in the process are developing an amazing amount of character and patina to photograph.  This year on the day of our visit, it was about 95 degrees out and working in the direct sunlight, we managed a few hours of photography before we cried “uncle” and retreated to our air conditioned cars. Here is a quick video of what its like at Daves and a few of the images.

 

 

We were fortunate to have everything from clear skies to puffy white clouds, storm clouds and even rainbows. A round bard with yellow canola field in the backgroundWe even managed to capture a few fields with yellow Canola flowers in them, which is always a highlight to the landscape.  I have photographed this round barn many times, but never with a yellow canola field in the background, so this was an extra special treat.

 

 

Old Weber House in the Palouse with clouds in the skyThis year I was particularly focused on shooting in monochrome in order to really highlight and focus on the lights/shadows and shapes/textures of the landscape.  Color is nice, but to do this type of work, monochrome really makes the landscape pop with the contrasts!  Plus, monochrome works wonderfully for Americana types of shots of old barns, silos, trucks, etc.

 

 

This years Spring workshop photographing the Palouse was a great success for all who attended.  Our group was great and really worked hard to immerse themselves in the landscape and ingest what Jack and I were teaching them about creating artistic images in this landscape.

I am returning to the area for a workshop in August to photograph this landscape during the harvest, when the fields are gold, tractors are kicking up large plumes of dust and there are endless patterns in the fields from a recent harvest.  Check out the workshop and consider coming along with me.  Otherwise, I hope to see you in 2022 in the Palouse!

Grain silos lined up with clouds in the sky in the palouse

colorful sunset over the wheat fields in the palouse

grain silo in the palouse

a barn and horses in the Palouse at sunrise

an old wheel and grass in the palouse

wheat fields at sunrise in the palouse

rolling wheat fields and whispy clouds in black and white