Palouse Yourself

Well, this is the first of my posts living on the dry side of the state (or so they tell me - it's rained every day since I've been here!). This morning I went out to Phillips Farm Park near Moscow, ID. While not spectacular, it's pleasant, and was a nice way to start easing back into photography after my  busy two-week hiatus. (Photography is like playing an instrument; you have to stay in practice). It might be worth a return trip in the fall, though, when the aspen groves start to turn color.

Near the trailhead, there is some old farm equipment set out for display at some point. The machines and the signs describing them are a bit old, but I think that makes them look more interesting, at least from a photographic standpoint. The flowers and seed heads in the foreground belong to teasel (Dipsacus sylvestris). I used f/16 to get everything in focus.

Below is a ponderosa pine in the foreground, with some aspen and other trees in the middle and the rolling hills of the Palouse in the background. Although even this picture shows human influence - there are faintly visible power lines in one spot - this gives a glimpse of the diversity the Palouse possessed before its thralldom to the plow. F/20.

The third is again of teasel, this one still flowering. I think it's pretty and deserving of a second look, even if it is invasive (a Class C noxious weed in Washington). This image has a nice symmetry to it, I think. F/4.5.