Brendan, one of our photographers recently did a shoot for us across the West Coast of America.
Here are some of the gorgeous photos he took, along with some stories from his travels.
When I was at the Wahkeena falls in the Columbia River Gorge (Oregon) I decided to climb up the creek at a very steep grade to get a better angle. There was a massive, moss covered boulder about 8 feet tall and 15 feet long on the hill that seemed like it would make a good perch So I decided to climb up onto it but once I was up, I realised that A: I was very precariously positioned pretty high up a steep hill and B: this rock was very, very slippery. I had to cling to it basically on my stomach for a few minutes to figure out my next move. None of my options seemed very good and climbing down the way I came up was a risky option as the chances of slipping were much higher. I ended up tossing my tripod off into the bushes so I didn’t have to worry about it and then in one leap from the position on my stomach I hopped off this boulder and landed on the gravel hillside next to it. It hurt, it was unpleasant, but I didn’t die or smash my head on anything so I considered it a big win. I spent the next 30 or so minutes looking for the roller wheels that popped out of my slider when it landed and luckily located all of them. I have since thought very carefully about my route down before climbing up stuff with a camera bag and tripod.
Another interesting place is eastern Washington. The typical view of Washington is one of moss covered forests and mountains but eastern Washington near Spokane is pretty otherworldly. Just east of Lake Chelan the land flattens out and turns into an absolutely massive plain punctuated by farms and strange rolling hills of grass and wheat. These hills (Palouse Prairie) were apparently formed by mega-floods called “outburst floods” during deglaciation. It feels more like Kansas than Washington.
Another wonderful and unexpected place is Lake Chelan, which is a lake in the foot hills of central Washington. It’s one of the primary wine regions in the state and apparently it’s up and coming as one of the best wine regions in the U.S.. Regardless of whether the wine tastes good or not it’s an absolutely beautiful region that almost looks like one of the lake regions in Italy. High rolling hills surround the lake and are speckled with wineries and palatial homes. I had the pleasure of photographing the Benson Winery and it had spectacular views from the north side of the lake.
