The little things…

Those who have read my blog for any amount of time know how much I love the details in scenes.  When presented with a sweeping vista I will of course slap on a wide-angle lens and shoot away.  What I really enjoy, though, is narrowing a photo down to its simplest form to really bring out the feel and meaning of a location.  I often think that the more “stuff” in a given photo the greater the chance for it to end up muddled and possibly interpreted differently than your original intention.

These beautiful barns dotted amongst rolling hills combined with blue skies speckled with white puffy clouds are from Palouse.  With so many beautiful points of interest, it was a challenge to focus attention on the best part of it: the light.  The light was rolling along the hillsides, ebbing and flowing like waves on an ocean.  The beauty of it literally took my breath away.  Combined with the contrasting shadows that came with that light, the yin-yang experience presented a scene that mere words are incapable of describing.

On this trip I spent a morning and evening on an overlook called Steptoe Butte.  The location provided an amazing vantage point for both sunrise and sunset.  I have some photos that offer a much wider view of the spectacular scene presented to me.  This photo, however, is one of my favorites.  It depicts the vista in its simplest form.  This abstract image was all about light, shadow, and color.  For me, it summed up the intense beauty of the area perfectly.