Watching owls fly in the Palouse
On the first day I was in the Palouse earlier this year, I found a great horned owl haunting an abandoned farmstead near Colfax.
My friends photographed the rolling hills and fields while I waited for the owl to fly. Over the course of an hour or so her started up in a broken metal structure, flew over to a green field, returned to the farmhouse and alighted at the weather vane nearby. At one point she met up with her mate in another field before leaving him when he stepped into the taller grass. She hunted successfully twice but she was just out of sight both times. I loved the even lighting from the overcast sky coupled with the varied scenes that she went through while I was there.
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Day into night at the Palouse Falls
Before visiting the Palouse for the first time this Easter, I was excited to see and photograph the rolling fields with their colours and patterns. While researching the location and mapping out places I wanted to visit, my friend Jack told me about the Palouse Falls and that became one of those spots. Jack and I traveled down to Washington and we both found it to be even better than imagined.
So much so that we went there twice during the four days we were away. Spending a few hours on separate afternoons there each time. It is a beautiful place to watch the day slowly go into night.
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Palouse – through the day
I really enjoyed photographing from sun up until deep into the night when I visited the Palouse in April. The patterns in the fields, character in the sky and range of colors in both can blend wonderfully at anytime of the day. These are a few of the ones that stood out from a couple of days on the backroads.
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Shadows and light dancing in the Palouse
When I planned my Easter trip to the Palouse, I knew that I would make a couple of visits to Steptoe Butte. It rises roughly 300 meters above the countryside allowing for an unobstructed view of the entire area. That elevation gain provides a great perspective on the waves of farmland below.
The first morning that I drove up, when the butte came in sight I found it capped by a loose shroud of cloud. After stopping to photograph that I headed up and was soon inside the cloud looking out at the sun rising over the clouds that had stacked up low along the horizon.
When the sunlight gently skipped across the rolling hillsides you could almost watch the color warm. I enjoyed almost an hour of truly amazing light dancing with the shadows it created over the fields. Those fields adding significantly to the views owing to their flowing lines, gentle patterns and earthy tones.
It was so beautiful that I had little hesitation choosing to return the next day. The second visit had a subtly different feel but I enjoyed shooting that morning just as much as the day before.
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The Palouse Falls into dusk
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This waterfall is a very worthwhile detour from the centre of the rolling fields. I’ve visited this park twice during my first visit to the Palouse area. The canyon the water has carved out is beautiful and its sharp edges contrast well with the endless swirl of the foam around the pool below the falls. A great place to spend a lot of time watching the day go by.
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Palouse – first impression
I’m visiting the Palouse for the first time over the weekend. The spring landscape in the early light this morning presented many of the hues in the Easter color palette. As for first impressions, this is truly beautiful country and it is a fantastic place to explore. There is much more to say, but the sun is shining and there are many more Easter eggs to find in these hills.
Christopher Martin Photography 