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Palouse Photography Road Trip Day 2

07/04/2018 by Mark Gotchall No Comments

Image taken in late afternoon from Steptoe butte, a Redtail Hawk searches for dinner.

Palouse Photography Road Trip Day 2

Day 2 of our trip to the Palouse started off gray and cloudy. We left Colfax before sunrise and drove to Steptoe Butte, but instead of a sunrise it was more of a slow gray increase in light. No images, from Steptoe this morning, were keepers, so we made our way off the butte and began to explore.

Palouse Exploring!

Heading north from Steptoe we took the back roads toward Oakesdale, Washington. There is plenty of wind to power the wind turbines scattered across the ridges here.

We drove right under several wind turbines. The turbine blades make an eerie sound as they spin. There is a house just down the hill, but if you lived here, I guess you get used to the noise. I darkened the clouds a little and added some detail to give it a look to match the sound.

This old barn seemed to be a roosting point for ravens, there were several more inside the building.

Abandoned building in Oakesdale, Washington. I think it may have been an old mill.

Flowers along Thistle Creek just outside of Oakesdale, Washington. Some sort of Phlox I think.

The sun was starting to peak through the clouds as we headed north from Oakesdale. We drove up to a higher vantage point and could see this old train trestle. There are a number of abandoned rail lines in Eastern Washington.

The sun was working it’s way out of the clouds when we came to this canola field. We had gotten the location, of the canola field, from some other members of our photography club the day before.

This image is a 2-minute exposure with a 10 stop ND filter. Clouds appear streaked and blurry as the wind blows, moving them during the long exposure.

Long Headed Poppies were growing next to the road. It was hard to capture a sharp images with the wind blowing them around.

This yellow rose bush, in front of an old homestead, has been abandoned a long time. You could see the footprint of the homestead, behind the roses, on a flat piece of ground among the trees. The trees and roses have outlasted the original home. What a story they could tell.

We traveled back to Colfax for some lunch and a coffee from the deli. The early morning sunrises and late sunset evenings were starting to catch up to us. Then we traveled south toward Uniontown. This old grain mill south of Pullman looks like it is due to collapse at any time. There doesn’t seem to be a straight edge that is still intact.

Further south in Uniontown is the Artisans at Dahmen Barn. The fence, made from old wheels and machinery parts circles around the barn. Inside the barn is artwork, studios, and photography from the local area.

Steptoe Butte

We drove back to Steptoe Butte for sunset. We drove further, circling up the butte to the top as we sought a higher perspective on the landscape. I called this image the “Palouse Zipper”.

I think there are literally thousands of different compositions here. The setting sun causes the shadows to play across the wheat fields. The shadows change to a purple color, because the angle of the sun changes, on last years’ harvested fields.