As I mentioned in my last two posts, I recently returned from a superb workshop in the Palouse region run by John Barclay and Dan Sniffen. The workshop started with a visit to a location meant to orient us to how to see and photograph what is so characteristic of the area…..rolling hills that seem to go on forever. The best way to portray them, at least in this particular area which did not have barns or grain elevators (and, yes, we visited many areas that did have both and that added another dimension to the photos), was as abstract images using a long lens. The long lens (in this case a 400 mm f5.6) was able to isolate interesting areas of the landscape while also ‘compressing’ the distance between the hills.
As you can see from the crop, even a 400 was barely long enough on my full frame camera. So if you visit, bring the longest lens you have and/or a body with a crop factor that uses less than a full frame sensor.
Rolling Hills
Copyright Howard Grill
