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Palouse workshop change
Perhaps due to the closure of the Steptoe Butte State Park road, no one has yet signed up for my Palouse workshop. I know for sure this was a factor for at least one group that was considering signing up. This will be the first time in 20 or so years of leading/co-leading workshops to the Palouse that I may have to cancel.
Because of this, I’ve had to release all the rooms (except mine) in the group block. And I’ve also released the meeting room reservations.
I’ve decided to change the trip from a photo workshop to a photo tour and I’ve lowered the price and limited it to six participants, but I can’t guarantee rooms in Colfax will be available. (Pullman should be a different story; there are a lot more hotels there.) Details on the tour are here.
The main difference between a tour and a workshop is that there would be no formal classroom or critique sessions and we’d probably be spending more time in the field. I would be shooting alongside you, but I’d always be available to answer questions, offer composition suggestions, teasing, and lending filters. And there's nothing keeping us from gathering to look at pictures together and getting feedback.
The Palouse is a lot more that just Steptoe Butte. And, as I’ve mentioned before, every year I go, I discover something new.
If you think you might want to join the tour, you can try getting a room in Colfax at the Best Western Wheatland Inn (recommended) or at the Siesta Motel. And you’ll likely find rooms available in Pullman, about 25-30 minutes from Colfax. And I can always relocate to Pullman if that’s the only place to find rooms.
If a small group tour appeals to you, let me know.
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Home Projects
I’m now entering the peak season of home projects. On the docket is a trellis over the garage, a new wood shed, a front yard fence, laying out flagstone pieces for paths and step landings (we got a killer deal on a pallet of flagstone), among other smaller, yet somehow very time consuming, projects.
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Spring in the forest
You may or may not have heard that the county road leading to the Hoh rain forest in Olympic National Park was partially washed out this past winter and access to that part of the park was closed.
(The road has since been repaired and is scheduled to reopen tomorrow as I write this. A big thanks to Governor Bob Ferguson for acting fast and facilitating the repairs.)
With my upcoming Olympic workshop in mind, and not knowing if we'd have access to the Hoh, I went scouting the Bogachiel trail near Forks, WA for a possible alternate rain forest site.
 The trail starts in the National Forest and leads to the National Park. Well before getting close to the park, the trail forks and creates a three mile loop trail. This is what I explored.
It was a sunny day, and the forest pictures weren't all that appealing so I mainly used my iPhone.
But I did run across a number of Trillium at their peak and one group was conveniently in the shade. So I pulled out my Nikon Z8 and spent a little time with one Trillium.
Trillium can be hard to photograph because their backgrounds are often close to the flower and said background, usually being a forest floor, is also often messy, making for distracting backgrounds. I felt rather lucky finding this with its relatively clean background.
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Medicare years old
That's a term my friend John Barclay came up with when he turned 65 all those years ago. (It might have been only a couple of years ago...)
Anyway, I just submitted my application for Medicare, which, besides the twinges in my knees and the sore back from working in the yard and and occasionally struggling for a common word, and and and...is the best part about getting older.
That and the senior discounts that I somehow forget I'm eligible for. I think that's most likely denial since I don't feel or act my age. Or it could just be me having a senior moment.
Wish me luck!
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