The Palouse is a photographer’s dream. Graphic landscapes, character-filled barns, rolling hills, a fence made of metal wheels, and old cemeteries (well, old for the west coast). And, of course, the unequalled view from Steptoe Butte – the possibilities are endless. You can literally spend the day driving the back roads and not run out of things to photograph. These and more make the rolling hills of The Palouse a bucket-list destination for many photographers.

I have been visiting the Palouse for over twenty-five years and leading Palouse photo workshops for nearly 20 years, and Palouse is still one of my favorite places to photograph.

The Palouse can be different every year. Crops rotate, barns collapse, and you will always hear about a place you have never been. Each year you can come back with images of things you have not seen before.

During the workshop I will help you with the finer points of landscape photography such as hyperfocal focusing, using graduated filters, setting up for panoramas, seeing in graphics and helping you to fine-tune your compositions. I will also guide you in using digital techniques such as exposure blending and focus, as well as planning images with the digital darkroom in mind.

We will have early morning and sunset shoots as well as classroom/critique sessions during the day (and naps, you will need naps at this time of year). Classroom sessions will also include tips on using Lightroom and other things digital.

What a typical day might look like
Mornings come early this time of year, so we will often be leaving before dawn to catch the first light on rolling hills. After our morning shoot, we will return to our hotel for a break where you will have time to get breakfast and download your images. On some days we will also gather during the day for critiques and lessons on photo technique and digital processing. In the late afternoon, we will head out again for our sunset shoot.

Hiking and exertion
There will be virtually no exertion involved other than getting up at an unholy hour of the morning for sunrise shoots.