John Shephard in conversation with Randy Lewis — 'Washington Wide'

Third Place Books welcomes John Shephard to our Lake Forest Park store for a conversation about his book Washington Wide: A Panoramic Journey Through Washington's Landscapes. P'squosa/Wenatchi Indigenous activist, historian, and leader Randy Lewis joins in conversation.

This event is free and open to the public. For important updates, RSVP is highly recommended in advance. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. Copies of Washington Wide will be available for purchase at the event. Sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book!

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This event is free to attend. Registration is required in advance.

About Washington Wide. . .

As a boy, John was surrounded by the lush temperate forests of Western Washington and spent the majority of his time out in them. Exploring, foraging, and camping are vivid memories that shaped who he is today.

Over the years, John noticed that most landscape photography books of Washington State focus on the Cascades and the coast. Everything east of the range is treated as an afterthought, if included at all. But Washington doesn't end at the summit. The Palouse wheat fields, the basalt canyons of the Columbia Plateau, the dry pine forests of the Okanogan, the alpine meadows of the Blue Mountains — these are Washington too, and they deserve the same attention.

Washington Wide is John's answer to that. It is a comprehensive panoramic portrait of Washington State — coastline to canyon, rainforest to rolling farmland, volcanic peak to desert scabland — captured entirely on film over more than thirty years of fieldwork.

Every image in the book was made on Fujichrome Velvia 50 transparency film using panoramic cameras — primarily the Noblex 135U and the Hasselblad XPan II. The original transparencies were drum-scanned by Michael Strickland on a Heidelberg Tango scanner, producing 16-bit files that preserve the full tonal depth and color fidelity of the original film.

John Shephard grew up in Washington State surrounded by its landscapes and wild places. That connection to the land became the foundation of his work as a panoramic landscape photographer. He shoots exclusively on film, using panoramic cameras that capture a field of view close to what the human eye actually sees.

Randy Lewis (P’quosa/Wenatchi, Colville Confederated Tribes) is aprominent Indigenous rights activist, historian, and civil rights leaderin Seattle. He is best known for helping organize the historic 1969 Alcatraz occupation and the 1970 Fort Lawton Takeover alongside Bernie Whitebear, which led to the creation of the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation and the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center

About Third Place Books

Founded in 1998 in Lake Forest Park, Washington, Third Place Books is dedicated to the creation of a community around books and the ideas inside them. With locations in Lake Forest Park and Seattle's Ravenna and Seward Park neighborhoods, Third Place Books is proud to serve the entire Seattle metro area. Learn more about their event series at thirdplacebooks.com/events