Franklin County

• Helen Hunt Jackson.

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I found this shot while browsing through my older albums looking to see if missed some good photographs. This shot was made in last summer when went to visit Palouse falls in Washington. We were camping at this location, so I woke up about 4 am to watch the sunrise which was happening to the left of this image.

After taking the customary sunrise shot I walked over to the waterfall and waited for the light to finally hit the canyon walls. The problem here is the canyon walls to my left are much taller than the canyon walls to the right and I had to wait for the sun to rise quite a bit to get the kind of light I was looking for. This shot is a three shot pano stitch at 24mm, just to give you an idea about how massive the falls actually are. That’s all about today's shot, thanks for visiting..

• Henry David Thoreau.

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I first visited the gorgeous Palouse Falls State Park in the summer of 2014 on what became some sort of a tradition in our family since then, our annual summer road trip. We were young and ambitious, so we planned a trip that traveled north on the pacific coast highway until Portland, Oregon, cut across at the Columbia River Gorge and drove north to Palouse the drove south home via the towns of Bend, Klamath Falls, Reno, and Bishop. It took us ten days to complete the loop and was a bit hurried, but we fell in love with the landscape of the American West.

We were about halfway through our journey when we reached the beautiful Palouse State Park. The landscape of these areas, at least during summer, resembles the deserts of eastern Oregon and California. It had me wonder about the possible size of the falls, and I questioned my decision to drive this far to see a waterfall when there were plenty at the Columbia River Gorge and the Cascade Mountains. When I laid eyes upon the falls, even in the middle of summer when the water level is at its lowest, I was a believer. Palouse Falls is massive, and I later learned that it’s the state waterfall of the state of Washington. I can see why.

I was a relative newbie at photography then, and Palouse was the first place where I struggled with white balance. The place was so yellow that it messed with the camera’s auto white balance. Thankfully I had already started the habit of taking my images in raw, so I could adjust the white balance later on. I recently learned a new way to get a correct WB setting, and this image resulted from implementing the process. I think this was the closest I have gotten to recreating what I saw that day at Palouse Falls.

• William Hazlitt

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When I first saw a picture of Palouse falls, I was sure that it’s located somewhere in Iceland or South America until I read the description and figured where it was located. So when we planned our trip along the Pacific North West I went to great pains to make sure that Palouse was included in the list. In fact I not only included it in the list but managed to convince my unsuspecting wife to camp in the park just to take my time here.

The area surrounding Palouse falls is mostly flat with very little population around, even when you enter the park all you can hear is the sound of the falls but no hills or mountains or a river is visible to justify the roar of the falls. That is until you park you’re and get a first glimpse into the deep canyon which is merely some meters away. The fall itself and curving of the river makes it a majestic sight and will easily lives up to anyone’s mental model.

I am glad I got a chance to visit this beautiful location and take photographs, if you ever get a chance make the trip and enjoy the beautiful location. As for me I can’t wait to go back again.

• Baltasar Gracian.

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White rock mountain has been a popular suggestion of my colleagues every time I have asked them about a good place to explore. I have heard about the vista of rolling hills as long as the eyes can see and about a cliff edge with the park’s namesake white rocks sticking out. The hardest part was convincing the wife to stay home, promises of a trip to Europe might have been made. Anyways, I got the green light to make the two-hour drive to the park.

We reached the park about an hour and a half before sunset, which afforded me some time to walk around and get a feel for the area. The main outlook point here provides a view of white rock cliffs and rolling hills in great fall color. Today's shot was taken about 5 minutes after sunset with the rocky cliff in the foreground and the beautiful Ozark highlands as the main focal point f the photo. The sky still had some colors to accentuate this classic high vista point shot. To make sure that I had end to end sharpness, I relied on Nikon D850’s focus stacking feature and then used helicon focus stacking software to render the final image.

• Rainer Maria Rilke.

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Next day after shooting at Lost Lake we left for Palouse Falls State Park which was located in the state of Washington. This location has been on my mind for a long time and my wife didn’t have any idea where we were going, all I told her was that we were going to camp at the location. I was a little worried that we might be late to get a camp location but we were the only people at the park so I pretty much had the park all to myself. We left early and reached the location by noon and set up camp and the basically explored the nearby short hikes.

This a classic vista point of the falls and I took this shot during sunset with the golden light lighting up the massive cliffs of the canyon. This is one massive fall and just the sound it makes is amazing. If you have a chance, make time to visit this awesome waterfall and state park.

Have a nice day..

USA 2016

• Mark Twain.

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Here is another shot of Palouse a sunset. I am in love with the way golden our light colors these dusty hills and canyons. They are different from the red s of the southwest and the yellowish tint of the Californian deserts. This golden tinge is unique to Palouse and it’s amazing to watch at both sunset and sunrise. I hope to return to Washington again soon and truly see the evergreen state.

It was truly amazing to camp at this beautiful location and to have the entire state park to ourselves. I wish we could do that every location we visit. Hope everyone enjoys this shot.

Gwendolyn Brooks

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When we moved to Arkansas, we had big plans for exploring the many beautiful spots of the state. I was a bit skeptical about taking my pregnant wife along, and she vetoed any trips without her. So that meant we didn’t travel much. Then the pregnancy turned complicated, and the baby came two months early deploying protective instincts that I never knew existed within me. With a preemie baby in the hose, I was not going to take any risks exposing her to outside elements. Finally, last month we got the good news, our baby girl has caught up on the growth chart and is well within the range of a full-term baby. We were overjoyed, but then we realized the world is still in lockdown.

So got back to looking over the photos from the only photo trip I managed since moving to North West Arkansas. While cataloging the images, I came across this shot of the beautiful Ozark national forest. I made the trip as the fall was in full swing, and the foliage was perfect. I was also playing around with Nikon’s focus shift functionality to get an edge to edge focus. I liked the evening light filtering in over the hills and the contrast in texture between the white rock cliff and the colorful foliage.

• David Icke.

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Now for the main attraction of the state park, that’s called white rock mountain state park. My relationship with fall photography has always been problematic. I look forward to it every year, only to get sidetracked by something or other and miss the fall foliage window. There is the Colorado trip where we missed peak color by mere days, two trips to the sierras when we watched gale-force winds strip the trees right in front of us, and finally the trip to NH and Vermont when I was too early and only saw any color near the Canadian border.

When I moved to Arkansas, I thought, due to the mild weather here, surely a prolonged fall weather will compensate for any planning related mishaps. Last year in November when my employer flew me in, fall was in full swing and looked spectacular. Unfortunately, my plans didn’t work out this year as well, there was an unusually early frost in Arkansas this year, and I fear it ruined the fall foliage. The colors on the leaves are not as vivid as last year and have a more burnt orange look instead of the vivid yellows and reds.

Direct sunlight, even the often magical golden light, emphasized the washed-out colors on the leaves. So I waited for the sun to go behind the mountains for a more pleasing light completely. I was not disappointed. The light hid the flaws in the foliage and gave me a decent composition of the classic view of the White rock mountain vista.

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