Lunacy pt. 3

I took a brief break from my studies to go find the moonset this morning, as last night was a full moon. My destination was a gravel road roughly between Palouse and Colfax, at a place that overlooks the canyon walls of the Palouse River. There are also some spots along the road that look out to Steptoe Butte, so I think I'll be making return trips to the area under different lighting and seasonal conditions.

The first two images are basically the same composition, separated by an interval of a few minutes. I think I like the first one the best - the moon is less obscured by clouds, and the color of the early sunlight is a bit more pronounced. Upon reflection, though, the way the clouds shroud the moon in the second version is interesting, so I thought I may as well post both.

Here is another one. I don't think this is as good of a composition, since the sense of depth is less pronounced. But the lighting is still cool, and the image still highlights the beauty of the morning.

Spokane Fun

I recently spent some time in the Spokane area and, while I was primarily going there on other business, accidentally happened to have placed my camera gear in my car. "Now, how did all of this get here?" I wondered aloud bemusedly, when I saw all the gear in the front seat before I left. "I suppose I might as well make some stops for pictures," I continued with a resigned sigh.

While I didn't get any show-stopping images, there are a few nice ones that I thought I would post.

Firt is a view from near the Little Spokane River, from the trail going south/east from Rutter Parkway. It's a nice trail and more diverse than I expected; moreover, this section escaped the wrath of the nearby fire this summer. There were nice fall colors near the river, and I suspect that there will be nice wildflowers at various points along the trail later in the spring. I used f/29 to get everything in focus. The sky was a bit milky for my tastes but it doesn't look too bad here. I imagine it'll look even better after some tweaking in Lightroom.

Next is a view from the James T. Slavin Conservation Area south of Spokane. Not a particularly eye-catching composition but it's pleasant enough. I think it's well-proportioned, at least. F/16.

Finally, some autumn aspen leaves from the conservation area. The white color of the aspen bark was more vivid in person than it is in this image, so I'm not sure whether I'm convinced by this composition. It might be worth it to experiment with lighting and white balance in Lightroom, but I don't know whether it'll ultimately make the cut. F/22.

Autumn Adventures III

Happy Saturday! Found the time for another short morning trip, this time to a fishing pullout on the Clearwater River between Lewiston and Lapwai in Idaho. I'd driven through the area before on other business, and had noticed both the frequent fishing pullouts and the attractive canyon walls. I think the place where I stopped this morning is technically within the boundaries of the Nez Perce reservation, although the access point is managed by the state. My trip this morning did not disappoint! Nice views of the canyon and some autumn foliage to boot.

All of my pictures this morning were taken at relatively narrow apertures to maximize depth of field. With that out of the way, without further commentary, here they are:

As I mentioned yesterday, I fear our nice weather may soon be coming to an end. Enjoy the sunshine and warmth while you can!

Autumn Adventures II

Fearing that the end of nice autumn weather might soon be upon us, I headed out this morning north of Pullman to the Elberton area. We'll start with something a bit different from my usual oeuvre: a shot of the old church in Elberton, a ghost town of sorts active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and disincorporated in the 1960s.

According to Whitman County Parks signage, Elberton thrived in the late 19th century when a sawmill, a flour mill, and other businesses typical of the time and place supported the town. Orchards, especially plums, were also important to the town, as was the processing of prunes. There was even a three-day annual picnic. At its heyday, the town would have had 400-500 people.

Fires, floods, and the depletion of local timber in the early twentieth century precipitated Elberton's decline.  Perhaps the Great Depression was also unkind to the town. No highways run through the town, and it's unclear to me whether this helped further the decline, or whether highways bypassed the town after that decline had already begun. Only a handful of people live in the general vicinity now, and not much of the old town is left. There's the old church, of course, an old bridge, lots of open fields, and trees of various sorts. Whitman County Parks owns quite a bit of the area, but there isn't much visitor use development apart from a few old picnic tables, an interpretive sign summarizing the town's history, and a ropes challenge course for groups.

One wonders, wandering around silent overgrown fields, what it would have been like to visit or live in the town at its height. What would have it been like so see the area when it was bustling with people, when plum orchards blanketed the valley floor, when the town hummed with activity? One also wonders how it disappeared. On a certain level, the answers are obvious - disasters, the growth of nearby towns, resource depletion, economic conditions, and so forth. But on another level, individual residents and businesspersons would have chosen to move or invest elsewhere at various points. How strange it would be to see your town disappear in your lifetime.

Before I visited Elberton, I stopped at a viewpoint uphill from the old town, along a gravel road. The first two are probably the most interesting of the lot; I had fun with backlighting, as you see. I had to time these just right; I wanted the sun to light up the tops of the cottonwood trees in the center.

Here are two wider views, looking roughly south over the Palouse River and its valley.

The final two images are again from near Elberton, near the Palouse River. I was enjoying the warm sunlight and the autumnal colors around the river. F/29.

Final image F/5.6.

Autumn Adventures

Here are a couple of images from a quick morning jaunt around the Palouse. The first comes from somewhere along Shawnee Road, just after the sun came up over the hills. I thought the light was hitting the aspen and shrubs quite nicely. F/11.

Next, some sunshine in Rose Creek Nature Preserve. F/22.

Interesting circumstance: the peaceful image above was taken before I found, right in the middle of the trail, the dismembered limb of an unidentified mammal. A grisly reminder that, even though I rarely see them, animals of all sorts live, eat, and die in the Palouse's parks. (Note: I don't know whether there are any animals in this particular area that stash kills. However, when hiking or otherwise in a natural area, it's a good idea to exercise caution around animal remains and avoid remaining in their vicinity. Some predators cache meat and will defend it.)