New photo book by Clement depicts dryland scenes, seasons

From the frosted vineyards of the Yakima region to the wind-swept hills of the Palouse to the staggered breaks of the Snake River, a new book about eastern Washington shows photos of it all.

Northwest Drylands Seasons shows page after page of color scenic shots of the landscape of this region.

The 116-page book is a collaboration between Tri-Cities photographer John Clement, Alex McGregor and Richard Scheuerman.

One of several eastern Washington book signings will be in Colfax at Main Street Books Saturday, Feb. 19, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Both Clement and Scheuerman will attend to talk with visitors and sign books.

“The different colors and the convolutions of the colors and the hills- it’s just the rolling hills. The trees and hills and ground change colors. It’s amazing- the clouds just speak to me,” said Joan Claussen, owner of Main Street Books.

Now a full-time photographer, Clement has been shooting photos of eastern Washington since the 1970s. The photos in the book draw from his 30-year collection of tens of thousands of pictures of the region.

Scheuerman and Clement have worked together on four other books over the past 20 years. All deal with topics relating to eastern Washington.

The new book includes an eight-page foreword written by McGregor last May. One of the feature pictures in the foreword is a wide-angle photo of Palouse Falls and the river canyon downstream.

In an interview with the Gazette Friday Clement said he began shooting this region when he realized the scenery of Washington was largely only famous for the west side of the state. He said he wanted to “expose people that don’t live in this area that there is another Washington.”

One photo in his new book shows a curve in the Palouse River near St. John at sunset. The horizon is on fire with orange and gray hues of fading sunlight over a lush wet meadow and the river below.

The science behind Clement’s photography is involved, to the point of chasing storms for the right shot. Clement said a typical day of shooting for him begins with tracking the weather around a specific area.

For example, one May his sister in the Tri-Cities called to tell him there was a strange cloud north of Richland. Clement got on his computer to check the satellite images of the storm, which was quickly moving toward his city.

“It was coming straight at me so I knew I’d need to go south up over the Horse Heaven Hills to stay in front of it. I made several stops to get a photo of the storm,” Clement said.

“I got a couple shots before it started to put down a funnel cloud. The vortex cloud was starting very quickly. The sun penetrated beneath the edges of it and it got that really dramatic lighting,” he said.

The sprawling purple clouds of the breaking storm over the Horse Heaven Hills is featured in a two-page photograph.

Clement said the point behind making the book of the region was to open people’s eyes to the beauty of their region. Equally important, he said, was giving glory to God by pointing out the scintillating beauty of his creation.