Author: admin

Last evening, we drove to the top of Steptoe Butte for long range sunset views.  The rolling hills create soft shadows in the late afternoon, creating jewel toned patterns which are fun to compose.  Steptoe Butte, rising 3,600 feet above the surrounding area, is the top of a granite mountain that was not quite covered by ancient lava flows.

Here are some images from this morning’s shoot.  Off we went at 4.30am, all dressed up in sweaters, windbreakers, knitted caps, and gloves (hard to imagine for those at home in Charleston, I know).  I had been out about an hour when I fell into a roadside ditch full of water while hurrying to photograph another angle of (another) barn.  It would have been very comical if it hadn’t been so cold, Needless to say, I had to suffer stoically since we were all car pooling and my fellow photographer passengers were not about to miss a thing on my account.  These images cost me!

This is amazing and I am hugely stimulated by all the different sights we’ve been taking in over the past couple of days, but I am EXHAUSTED.   I keep telling myself that it is worth it all because I would hate to miss a single capture of this incredible scenery.  Too late to write more, and another obscenely early start tomorrow, so let the pictures tell the story; a red barn, Palouse Falls, and an abandoned house sitting in a field of wheat.

We’ve been busy.  Early rise (3.30am) this morning to catch a sunrise from Steptoe Butte.  The days are long this far north.  Sunrise is 4.45am and sunset at about 8.45. It was a non-event due to clouds on the horizon, but here are some other images from our travels this morning.  Now it’s time to go to class before heading out again for a late afternoon shoot in the Moscow (Idaho) area.

The Pa-what?  Well, it’s certainly not Charleston, and it took me all day to get here.  The Palouse is a fertile farming area in the southeast corner of Washington state, sort of in between Oregon and Idaho.  I’m here for a week to photograph rural scenes, old barns, etc. and to participate in a workshop run by Rod Barbee.  We will be shooting for a lot of the day and in the classroom learning software processing techniques (mainly Lightroom) for the rest of the time.  I am looking forward to learning a lot.  Stay posted for some different kinds of landscapes from what you usually see from me.

I was watching the approaching storm on the Doppler Radar this evening, and the dog was worrying me for a walk, so I decided to take my camera and dog down to Sunrise Park and watch the storm in real time, real life.  I was hoping for some lightning so I could test my gizmo that triggers the camera shutter automatically and captures lightning strikes while I watch with my arms folded, but unfortunately it was just rain – no lightning.  Quite a lot of rain it turned out, as I discovered running to my car for shelter.

 When my alarm went off this morning at 5.30, I really didn’t want to get out of bed.  Reluctantly I pulled on some clothes, made myself a cup of tea, let the dog out briefly and then headed across the connector into downtown Charleston.  For awhile I have wanted to catch the first light on a couple of spots in Waterfront Park, and there had been conflicts that had prevented it. So this morning I had no excuses, but as I watched the lightening sky from the bridge, I realized I was late.  That early light is subtle.  What I was looking for was already happening and I was still 10 minutes away.  I guess that’s the challenge of photography – we never nail the perfect image, but here are a couple that will work.

On Sunday evening we took a nature cruise in a small skiff in the Crab Bank area.  I was amazed at the abundance of bird life within such close proximity to all the boating activity that Shem Creek produces.  The birds are protected and they seem to know that.  Crowded on this small sandbar are gulls, pelicans, skimmers, terns, and osprey perched on top of harbor markers nearby, all nesting and jostling for space. Here are a couple of the images I took.

Still sorting through hundreds of images taken yesterday morning in Beaufort, deleting many and finding others I like.  What a wonderful world we live in and how much there is out there to see and marvel at.  Here’s one taken of seagulls and pelicans all fighting over the fishy scraps that shrimpers were throwing overboard.