Mention the Palouse region to any serious landscape photographer and they will immediately know where it is. Mention it to someone in the agricultural industry and they will likely know too. Mention it to anyone else and you get blank stares. The Palouse is located mostly in eastern Washington State and western Idaho and is some of the most fertile ground in the world. The rolling landscape of the Palouse is amazing to photograph, and the best place to start is Steptoe Butte State Park. The butte is the tallest feature in the Palouse area, rising about 3,600 feet above the surrounding rolling hills and mounds. At the very top, you get a 360-degree panorama of some of the best farmland in the United States. Photographing from the butte can be overwhelming, as it is difficult to capture the whole thing. Instead, it is easier to zoom in on smaller compositions that convey the beauty of the contours of the landscape that are more pronounced during early morning or late evening light. This photo was taken just after sunrise on my first morning there in 2015.