Le Chateau

Color can fool the eye, as all painters, photographers and printmakers know too well. What better to celebrate the theme of this fall equinox event than an old Army warehouse turned winery and painted Trompe l'Oeil? Good fruit viewed from the VR dimension.

As of October 2008, the 10,000-square-foot building at the Port of Walla Walla Regional Airport's Industrial Park is the home of Le Chateau, a new winery venture by Dick and Diane Hoch and Bob and Crista Whitelatch, of Claar Cellars.

Four artists and 30 gallons of paint transformed this otherwise bland structure into a classic French-style chateau, complete with windows, pillars and architectural moldings.

Christine Barnes - Designer and Graphic Artist, Kennewick, WA
Adrian Snowden - Airbrush Artist, and owner of T & L Office Supply in Kennewick, WA
and two Walla Walla Community College art students:
John Leone of Kennewick, WA
Kris Schultz of College Place, WA


At least half of the painting was done with airbrush. Snowden, who has been using an airbrush for 20 years, said the building was definitely the biggest canvas he has worked on, and he was able to share his expertise with the students, who stepped up to get the job done.

"There was blood, bruises and tears," he said. "The wind would blow so hard the scaffolding would shake and we'd have to all get down." "I'd come home with scorched and singed eyebrows from the intense radiant heat from the wall!".

- the above text generously borrowed and condensed from Wine Press Northwest (9/02/2008);
'Warehouse at Port of Walla Walla winery gets paint job' By Mary Hopkin, Tri-City Herald staff writer

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USA-Canada / USA-Washington

Lat: 46° 5' 14.93" N
Long: 119° 17' 48.11" W

Elevation: 365m

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: High. Pinpoints the exact spot.

Canon D60 (yeah, it's old but still works great!)
NK 10.5 fisheye lens with FotoDiox pro lens adapter
NodalNinja 3 pano head
Auto Esposure Bracketing - 3 exposures each of 8 positions, 2 stop spread


PangeaSoft - Bracketeer
Adobe Photo Shop CS3
ClickHereDesign - CubicConverter/CubicConnector

Several passes of Belki and Snoopy were recorded in the scene, in each location. Auto Exposure Bracketing captured a wide range of light conditions as deep clouds revealed bright sun. Bracketeer allowed enfusing of the multiple exposures, while CS3 layers manipulations allowed selective additions of Belki and Snoopy figures into each set of exposures. The complete set of 6 around in addition to zenith and nadir imaages were then stitched together in PTGui Pro 8. Minor retouching followed in CS3 to complete the final image.

Incident location sounds from various locations were mixed and a snipet of music from Le Chateau de Ma Mere (instrumental jazz rendition) by Janet Seidel - The Way You Wear Your Hat, was overlayed to complete a colorful feeling for the image.