(WARNING: BIG POST!)

Easily my most favorite photo trip ever, the Palouse (pronounced “pal-loose”) was not just an enjoyable weekend-getaway; it was an experience. The Palouse is a region in Eastern Washington consisting of wheat and barley farmlands more-or-less. Having never seen the countryside in the US, I really enjoyed the entire trip. This first post contains some photographs that were captured on the way to the Palouse. I had rented a lens (my first time) for the weekend – the absolutely fantastic Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS lens. I took most of my shots with this and my Sigma 10-20 coupled with my CPL and ND filters.

First pit stop:
Trying something minimalistic:

Then we stopped for gas and I saw this cute fella on a near by car. If he/she looks familiar to you, think ‘The Mask’. The same dog stars in the moves as Milo. FYI, this is a Jack Russel Terrier.

And away we went again.

After travelling some more, we noticed a lot of smoke coming about a mile away from the freeway. Following our Sherlock Holmes instincts, we decided to investigate. The smoke lead us off the beaten path for a few hundred yards until we came across a beautiful wheat field. The next half hour was spent photographing the wheat field, me amongst the wheat, Lijo amongst the wheat, me amongst the wheat, the smoke in the background and so on… We decided not to proceed to the source of the smoke after we realized that we were on private property!
Me amongst the wheat (Photo by Sanoj):

Continuing our trip with beautiful rolling hills on the sides…

… and lots and lots of wheat fields.

And then we came across the tractor. The tractor we were all dying to see (ok, maybe I am exaggerating a bit). The *wait for it*LONELY tractor. And she was a beauty. Just sitting there on top of the curvaceous field. Isolated. Reticent. Coy. Beautiful. This sparked a quest for the lonely house, the lonely barn, the lonely tree, the lonely lady, the lonely truck, the lonely cloud, etc, etc.

It was here that I was able to take some of my most favorite photographs ever.
On the telephoto side of the 70-200:

On the wider side of the 10-20:
A near by field:
Me with the 70-200 (Photo by Sanoj):

The last and final detour we took was the most exciting! It was time to go off-roading. And trust me, we did some serious off-roading. I was honestly scared. The rental company would sue us if they knew what we did with the SUV. But damn… that was fun. One of us would drive the car through a really dusty path and do some skidding and stuff while the other two photographers would stand outside and shoot the SUV, the dust et all! We took turns to drive the car and shoot.

And finally, a conceptual shot titled ‘Resurrect’.

Check out Part 2 of the Palouse Experience!