Day three of my Palouse Fall and Palouse Hills Big Adventure Photography Class, I had my students on Steptoe Butte in Steptoe Butte State Park Heritage in Washington, watching and photographing light dance across the Palouse Hills with our telephoto lenses. Developing thunderstorms heading our way knocked out the light for a while. Soon the sun started trying to sneak back out, so I had the students switch to regular lenses to get ready for sunset. We made that switch just in time as light rays started bursting through the clouds, illuminating the hills like a beautiful glowing spotlight, and it was coming our way.
As I yelled out my technical settings for what I was doing in my camera, the light on the hills kept growing as the sun’s rays expanded, and anticipation was building! It was getting better and better, and the rays kept coming closer and closer. A quick check of everyone’s camera showed the students were doing excellent, and just as I returned to my camera and clicked the shutter: “Pow! Nailed that! Put that in the bank!” The excitement of the moment was off the charts as we could not believe the light show Mother Nature was putting on for us, shot after amazing shot as we continued shooting right through sunset.
But suddenly the thunderstorm was upon us. I yelled, “Time to go!” as we all quickly packed up the camera gear and jumped in our cars just in time before the rain came in hard sheets and the wind whipped up. As I came off of the butte, lightning danced around me as I drove through the storm, thinking about the once-in-a-lifetime moment I had just shared with all of my students. What an incredible finish to an amazing light show, one that my students or I will ever forget!
