THE PALOUSE

 

"The Palouse is the middle of nowhere: a nowhere with quilted hills of wheat and soybeans stacking and cresting like the waves of the ocean."

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Welcome to The Palouse. Layer upon layer of overlapping, rolling hills recedes into the distance across southeastern Washington State. And you are surrounded by rich, fertile fields that make up this wonderful area.

 

The most striking feature of The Palouse is the rolling hills, with wheat, canola, and lentil crops planted in nearly perfect, swirling patterns. Combine this with sunlight filtered through big, puffy clouds, and the landscape almost comes alive with texture, color, and sensuous shapes.

 

The Palouse presented photographic opportunities from so many different perspectives and angles and with a constant shift of light and shadow. We found ourselves perched high atop Steptoe Butte one minute, and the next, we were right in the heart of the valley traveling its narrow, twisting roads and meeting the land head-on.

 

When I shoot nature, I typically avoid having people in my photographs. But this trip represented an amazing collaboration between man and nature. The Palouse is farmland. Beautiful, rich, and fertile farmland. By embracing the dance between Mother Nature and the farmers of this unique part of our country, I found myself captivated by the subtle beauty and patterns created by the simple act that planting and plowing could produce.

 

The emotions it created were evocative. At one point, feeling a fondness and longing for the serenity of the endless hills and then felt overpowered by the loneliness that can only come from a disconnection from humanity.