Category Archives: The Grand Landscape

The overview of the natural landscape.

Be Like a Sunset!

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“Big Island Sunset”
Waiakola, Hawai’i

I would like to pass on this message from Dewitt Jones, a photographer that I follow (dewittjones.com). How many times have we sat and watched the beauty of a sunset? Remember the warmth, peace, and happiness it has brought. Some evenings it will be bright and glorious. Some evenings it will be gentle and peaceful. But, it is always there.

There are so many good and wonderful things in this world to celebrate. In times like these, it is extremely important not to forget to celebrate what is right in this world. Dewitt asks why can’t we be like a sunset to the people and world around us. Why can’t we bring beauty, brightness, peace, and hope to the world … every day? Are we too busy? Will people care? Are are efforts good enough? Why can’t we be like a sunset, showing up every evening without any expectation of the result? The essence is being there, celebrating life, and bring forth happiness to whoever may be there.

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End of the Chain …

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Rainbow
End of Chain of Craters Road
Hawai’i Volcanos National Park

All we could see at the top of the plateau overlooking the lava plain at the end of the Chain of Craters Road was a thick bank of fog. We drove down to where the recent Kilauea lava flow blocked the road. We really could not see much and turned around. The fog started to break a little revealing this beautiful rainbow. I hopped out of the car and grabbed my camera. My lens was not wide enough to include the whole rainbow in the frame. I started to change my lens but the rainbow was breaking up rapidly. I grabbed my trusty iPhone and quickly shot a couple of images. The rainbow disappeared. Thank you Apple for the new wide angle lens on the iPhone 11.

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Ridges Into the Sea

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Pololu Valley Lookout (2020)
The Big Island, Hawai’i

The last time I was here I hiked down to the base of these cliffs and looked up the Palolu Valley to the south. Waipi’o Valley is in the distance. This trip I did not make the trek down to the bottom.

On previous trips, my interest focused on the bay directly below and closer. The above ridges were in the distant background. This time the ridges caught my eye. I zoomed out to 400m to isolate them.

For reference, the photo below represents my previous focus.

Pololu Valley Lookout (2017)

As seen, this is quite a different perspective. It pays to return to special places and keep an open mind to see new things.

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Can You Believe ?

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Heather Heights Garden – 1 January 2020

Can you believe that it was 56 degrees in our Eastern Washington garden on 1 January 2020. It was over 20 degrees warmer than the average New Years Day temperature. I took the opportunity to spend several hours working (playing) in the garden both with my camera and garden tools. Such nice weather makes me excited about starting new spring projects early. But I must be patient and wait for the winter season to run its course. However, I can be contemplative and creative using my camera to record the progression of the season through the garden. Spring will come soon enough.

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Steptoe Butte

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Steptoe Butte from Kamiak State Park

About an hour prior to taking this image, I was at the top of Steptoe looking over the Palouse Plain. (Refer to the first image of this series I posted about a week ago.) Now I am at the bottom of Kamiak Butte looking across the plain up to Steptoe Butte. In this image, I am trying to emphasize the curves of the fields and how they “feed up” toward Steptoe. The small bales of hay in the middle field add a little scale to the image.

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Old-Barn-1 Wheels Old-Barn-2 Red-Roof-Barn Curving-Road-Hill Steep-Hill-Fence Old-Grain-Elevator

Steptoe View

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Steptoe View

It has been over 3 months since I last posted an image. It’s been a busy summer. Since my last post, the user interface for WordPress has changed a little. So here goes …

I will be trying to catch up with the photography that I have been doing over the summer through a series of mini-projects. The first will be from a recent trip to the Palouse in southeastern Washington. The view from Steptoe Butte was a flowing mixture of golds and various shades of brown. It was a cloudy morning with very little contrast. Then the sun broke through illuminating bright streaks across the landscape. The whole scene changed drastically. I chose to focus my images on small vignettes as opposed to the overall landscape. This lone tree and lines of the freshly plowed fields caught my eye.

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Old-Barn-1 Wheels Old-Barn-2 Red-Roof-Barn Curving-Road-Hill Steep-Hill-Fence Old-Grain-Elevator

Navaho Dome

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Navaho Dome
Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

Capitol Reef National Park is full of unusual forms, outcroppings, ridges, valleys, and canyons. Everywhere I turned, I saw a different formation. Questions flashed across my mind. How were they formed in the first place? When were they created? What was the landscape like at the time of the creation? What was the driving natural force that changed the landscape? What forces caused the erosion to occur in a specific way? Why are there different colors and tones? What are the legends that surround the formation’s history?

Does Navaho Dome reflect the lined face fo wisdom or the peaks and swirls of child’s play? Maybe it is both …


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Mid-Day Shadows

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Bullfrog Road Near Capitol Reef

On my last day at Capitol Reef I decided to just drive around and scout some of the areas for a future trip. It was mid-day when I saw some interesting shadows on these rock protrusions. The scene looked pretty flat in color. My mind turned black and white. I like clouds and shadows. Here were both.

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Crooked River

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Crooked River
Smith Rocks State Park, Oregon

On another adventure earlier this spring, we went to Smith Rocks State Park along Highway 97 in Oregon. It a beautiful spring day during local school’s spring break. There was a huge crowd with the same idea as we had to soak up the rays and explore. We took a casual walk along the gorge rim. Others were hiking the steep trails and climbing the shear faces of Smith Rocks (way outside of our physical condition or skill level). It was a great day!

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A Beautiful Spring Day

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Palouse River Canyon Below the Falls
Eastern Washington

Memorial Day was a beautiful Spring day! We woke up to a beautiful morning full of sunshine. It was time for a road trip! We decided to drive to the Palouse and visit Palouse Falls. Three hours later we were waiting in line to enter the Palouse Falls State Park. Many others had the same idea as we did. The drive and wait were worth it.

This image is taken from above the Palouse River just below the Palouse Falls. Recent rain created the green foliage on the plateau and canyon walls. Normally the scenery is pretty brown. The sky was covered by a patchwork of puffy white clouds. The scene was a a gift!

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Old-Barn-1 Wheels Old-Barn-2 Red-Roof-Barn Curving-Road-Hill Steep-Hill-Fence Old-Grain-Elevator