SPOKANE and the PALOUSE III

Sunday, Sept. 29:

Cold and raining at the Hotel as we packed up. As we drove to Manito Park the rain turned to snow. We stopped at the park for a short look around,

and then headed off to the Palouse area. The temperature hovered around the low 30’s all day with a good wind blowing. Thankfully Lin had many more layers than I, so I was able to borrow her insulated jacket. It was a life saver. I wore both pairs of my pants as well.

We enjoyed wandering around the area most of the day. Not very good light, but we got some good pictures along the way.

ONE OF MANY RED BARNS

STEPTOE BUTTE

SNOW LADEN PINE TREE

We finished atop Steptoe Butte:

 

We are staying at the Best Western in Colefax. Dinner was at the Grocery Store, and left a bit to be desired, but there were few choices.

Monday, Sept. 30th:

Very good breakfast at the Motel. Then off for a full day of photography chasing the light and looking for interesting old barns, etc. Spent a lot of time at a barn in Uniontown with the wheels fence, etc.

Found many dilapidated old barns, a covered bridge, various valleys, and small towns,

A TOUCH OF FALL

including the town of Palouse, a small farming community, where we got a sandwich for our dinner and enjoyed sitting and viewing the main street.

We then headed back to Cofax with another sunset stop at Steptoe Butte.

SPOKANE AND THE PLOUSE II

Tuesday, the 24th,  I returned to the Turnbull Wildlife Reserve. I had the place to myself I believe. There was only one other photographer out and he was looking for birds. I proceeded to hike most of the trails which were generally short, but covered a lot of countryside. I looked at the various plants and enjoyed photographing a few. It was very enjoyable to stroll around in a new habitat.

Afterwards I once again stopped in Cheney, this time for lunch and to pick up something for dinner.
I had a delicious egg's benedict, and then ordered a vegetarian wrap for our dinner. After a nap back at the hotel I was off for a sunset walk to the West along the Riverside Walk with camera in hand. This time I made it down to parts of Spokane Falls.

Wednesday, 25 Sept. The conference started officially today, and I attended four of the presentations. I was interested in Macro photography, and Focus Stacking. Macro is really capturing the image at 1:1, and Focus Stacking has to do with taking a series of images without moving the camera or lens but changing the focus point a number of times. The result is a really sharp image through out. Another presentation that I enjoyed was "Captured Images vs. Art Images". The art images are those which have been enhanced using Photoshop or another program to give a different rendition of a photograph.
 The best program of the day was in the evening and was presented by Cole Thompson and the topic was Why Black and White.
Here is a link to his website so that you can see some of his work - https://colethompsonphotography.com/portfolios/ 

Thursday 26 Sept. Out this morning for an early morning walk going East. I went past the west side of the Gonzaga University campus. Back at the Conference I attended the breakfast meeting of the Nature Division, and then Lin's presentation on Yellowstone. Later I attended a program on "Techniques for Making B&W Images" where I got a couple of good pointers. In the late afternoon I went West to photograph Spokane Falls. 

PATTERN IN U. S. PAVILLION

A FUN FALLS 1

FUN FALLS A MINUTE LATER

SPOKANE FALLS AND BRIDGE

Along the way I once again found some good food for our dinner. The evening program was by Lewis Kemper and was titled"Expanding your Creativity with Time/Motion Techniques". Lewis Kemper is a widely recognized photographer, writer, and instructor. https://www.lewiskemper.com  He put on a very good program on time-lapse photography, etc. This is an area that I need to explore more.

U.S. PAVILION

ANOTHER ANGLE 

A TOUCH OF FALL

COTTONWOOD LEAF

Friday, 27 Sept. Charles Needles did several presentations today on Macro Photography and iPhone  Photography. As a result I spent a bit of money on apps for the phone as well a couple of his books. After his presentation on iPhone photography we went out for a walk but it was dampened by the weather as it started to rain shortly after we set out.

The evening program was by Nevada Weir, a fine travel photographer who was very dynamic and passionate about her work. She is a National Geographic Photographer, among other accolades.

Saturday, 28 Sept. A cold and rainy day. There were good presentations from Sam Shaw, PSA, on the Elements fo Photo Journalism and Richard Cloran, PSA, on his journey through photography. The final presentation was presented by Clyde Butcher who has spent his life making very large B&W prints   
of the National Parks in Florida. At times he uses a 12x20" View Camera which he made. https://clydebutcher.com/about-the-artist/technical-information/  I highly recommend any photographer to view his website and galleries.

The annual banquet was this evening and closed out the week in Spokane. I enjoyed a light dinner in the bar area of the hotel while Lin went to the banquet. She is and has been very active in PSA and enjoyed the fellowship and various award presentations that were given. As I know very few PSA members I opted not to go to this gala. I enjoyed a light dinner in the Hotel bar.

SPOKANE and the PALOUSE

FRIDAY SEPT 20 - MONDAY SEPT 23rd

I was invited in early September to join my good friend and Photo Buddy, Lin, to go to the Photography Society of America's Annual Conference. It did not take much persuasion to say yes for a roadtrip to Spokane, and a photo trip to the Palouse area of Washington State.

We would driving up, and then Lin would deliver me to the Portland, OR airport as she headed on to the Oregon Coast to visit her house and do some needed repairs. We had a good time seeing some new country and taking time to photograph along the way.

We took three days to drive to Spokane via the Eastern Sierras to Mono Lake, and then on into Nevada; to Winnemucca, Eastern Oregon, Western Idaho; and then into Eastern Washington.

The first day we drove to Hawthorne, NV with a sunset stop at Mono Lake prior to turning East. We both had been to Mono Lake a few times, but it had been awhile. Sunset is not the best time to photograph here as the sun sets over the Sierras to the West early. We got there just as it was getting dark. But sometimes you get lucky so you at least try.

PAOHA ISLAND

SUNSET SKY OVER THE SIERRAS

TUFA 

LATE LIGHT

BLUE HOUR 

Afterwards we headed to Hawthorne, NV, a 55 mile drive. The road was empty. We had one car  pass us. Hawthorne greeted us with a small fireworks show as we approached!

We were off early Saturday morning in case we might find a location for sunrise. Nothing materialized. We saw lots of open country this day as we drove 625 miles to Pendleton, OR. It was an interesting drive and enough variety to keep us interested. In Pendleton we stayed at the Marigold Hotel in downtown. It was a quaint hotel, and it served our purposes with a clean room and plenty of hot water.

Sunday, Sept. 22nd, once again we were off early on so that we could explore the Palouse area as we headed for Spokane. The Palouse is a distinct geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of north central Idaho, southeastern Washington, and by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. It is characterized by gentle rolling hills covered with wheat fields. The hills were formed over tens of thousands of years from wind blown dust and silt, called "loess". Seen from the summit of 3,612 foot high Steptoe Butte, they look like giant sand dunes.

In the spring they are lush shades of green, and in the fall they are dry shades of brown. We are visiting after the crops have been harvested so we are seeing shades of gold and brown.   We would be returning to the area after the Conference, but we had a bit of time so we visited Steptoe Butte, and Palouse Falls to get a feel for the countryside.

 We enjoyed a lunch in Colfax, WA.

On Monday, Sept. 23rd, we went separate ways but met briefly at TURNBULL NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE.

I was exploring on my own here and saw four trumpeter swans,

TRUMPETER SWAN

a hawk, 

a few ducks, and some flora.

Lin was busy working on her presentation on Photographing Yellowstone in Winter, so I was on my
own in the afternoon, and enjoyed a pleasant walk along the Riverside Walk which runs right behind the hotel. Sorry no pictures this evening, I just enjoyed the sights and sounds.