When you think “iconic landscape,” vast expanses of rolling farmland are probably not the first images that come to mind. However, the Palouse region of eastern Washington — a fertile plateau carpeted with rolling fields of wheat and canola — has become a mecca for landscape photographers.
I had the chance to see and photograph the Palouse for myself during a workshop in June of this year led by photographers Rad Drew and John Barclay. The experience exceeded my expectations, offering a wide variety of photographic opportunities.
Steptoe Butte
For me and many other photographers, the agricultural landscape of the Palouse is best viewed from above. Accordingly, we made the pilgrimage up the narrow road to the top of Steptoe Butte, an island rising above the Palouse hills to an elevation of 3600 feet. The views are panoramic in all directions, and the photographic challenge is to use telephoto lenses to isolate compositions from the grand landscape. Just after sunrise and before sunset the warm light skims across the rolling landscape, highlighting its texture. The farms and grain elevators, seen in the distance, provide a sense of the vast scale of the landscape.
Undulation
In June, the dominant colors of the Palouse landscape are the bright monochromatic green of the wheat fields, the intense yellow of flowering canola, and the blue sky. Despite this brilliant palette, I found myself turning to black and white processing as a way to emphasize the texture of the landscape.
Oakesdale Farm
Folded
The Palouse region is also full of a lot of abandoned stuff: small town businesses, isolated farmhouses, barns, grain elevators, and vehicles. I found these to be attractive subjects, speaking to me of the passing of time and the changes in agriculture and agricultural communities over the decades.
Veterans
No Gas
Sally’s Truck
More of my images from the Palouse can be found in this gallery.