Loose on the Palouse

[regnaD kciN]

As amazing as it seems, although I’ve been living in the Pacific Northwest for more than a quarter-century, virtually my entire time has been spent west of the Cascades. Until this past July 3rd, the furthest east I had ever traveled was midway across the state.

Finally, the day before Independence Day, I made a very long drive to a long-time item on my photographic "bucket list," the rolling wheatfields of the Palouse, in the southeast corner of the state. Fortunately, at the time I was able to get out there, the new wheat had reached a considerable height, but still carried the green of spring. Later in the summer, of course, everything would have turned golden — still making for wonderful photographs, but not the freshness for which I was looking.










When Pigs Fly, already seen in July's photo contest, was a "grab shot" taken while making a loop on the farming roads of the region.




Aside from the photo opportunities available from simply driving the roads in the area, there are two buttes offering elevated views of the region. Kamiak Butte is lower with more trees, and a view facing north.










Steptoe Butte is the tallest point in the area (it has all the region's television transmitters at the top), and a good vantage point for sunrise or sunset images, although I found it better to shoot from about halfway up at sunset, as the haze gets too thick at the top. The first photo here was taken from the summit around mid-afternoon, while the remainder were taken from a pullout part-way up the butte just as the sun was going down.

[Gamey]

1. Awesome

What type of camera do you use? Are these enhanced? I love the colors in the Steptoe Butte.

[regnaD kciN]

2. To answer your questions...

I was using a Sony Alpha 100 (which was a good thing, as its in-body stabilization allowed me to hand-hold many of the shots from the road, where setting up a tripod for each shot would have taken up a lot more time and not let me explore as much). I use Lightroom to process all my images, but none of these are "enhanced" in the sense of using HDR or similar techniques.

[NV Whino]

3. Wheat rolling over the hills

Beautiful stuff. Well worth the long drive.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

4. Great shots!

My daughter is a proud grad of WSU so I have spent time amongst the rolling hills of the Palouse. Go Cougs!

[alfredo]

5. Wow!

[Mira]

6. Words completely fail me.

I had no idea that I would ever like anything you do as much as your water/waterfall/forestry photography.
All I can think of - other than "how spectacular and unforgettable"- is that there is a painting by Grant Wood of this type of landscape that has been a favorite of mine for a long time.
I'll have to find it, and when I do I'll show it.

Thank you for these!

[Celebration]

7. Picture perfect!

Makes me want to break out singing,

"Oh, Beautiful for spacious skies"

[Mz Pip]

8. These are beautiful.

It was fortuitous that you were there while the landscape was still green. We traveled to eastern WA last Sept and it was very dried out; still spectacular but nowhere near a incredible as you experienced.

If I had to pick a favorite it would be the second to last shot. I really love the complimentary colors in the fields.

[Sheepshank]

9. Amazingly delightful

that second to last pic has me going back to it. Land almost seems to have a liquid fluidity about it. The shades of gold into gree, the shadows and soft and rollings. I really love that one.

[JeffR]

10. Extremely impressive, and I'll join in the chorus about the next-to-last.

Awesome photograph!

[superconnected]

11. How the heck did you get so high up to take several of these?

Incredible. I had no idea places like this even existed.