During our 2007 Yellowstone visit, we made it to three thermal areas on mornings that were quite cool – Artists Point Pots, Norton Geyser Basin, and Mammoth Hot Springs. Cool mornings make for interesting photographs in thermal areas.
At Norton Geyser Basin, I was quite pleased with all of the wonderful photo opportunities that I had had during our walk. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until we had made it all the way back to the parking lot when I noticed the message on the LCD screen, “No card in the camera.” This was worse than the old SLR cameras where you would discover after thinking you had shot a roll of film, only to discover that the film had not been engaged on the takeup spool properly and not a frame of film had been exposed. In the case of film, the pictures that were “lost” would be limited by the number of photos expected for a roll – for, me generally 24 or 36. Digital media, on the other hand, is limited by the capacity of the storage device, in this case an SD card. I probably had “snapped” 100 to 200 images that never got saved, because I had left the card in the computer.
I haven’t made that mistake since then. The other way that I have lost opportunities for pictures is when I forget to charge the camera’s battery. Now, with my new camera, I have a spare battery that is always charged before we set out. It certainly has been beneficial already, when, on at least two occasions, the battery in the camera ran out of juice when we were out doing, seeing, and picture taking.
__________
Yellowstone References and Resources:
Yellowstone is one of the most popular destinations in the U.S. and there are a lot of available resources, including books and DVDs
- National Park Service
- Wikipedia
- UNESCO World Heritage Site
- National Geographic
- New York Times Travel Guide
- Wikitravel
- Gorp
- PBS
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Absolutely beautiful. I just love these videos. Has much changed from your first visit to Yellowstone in ’07? I was wondering with all the news regarding climate change, if you notice any difference on your recent visit. Stunning images. Thank you for the resources as well! I enjoyed watching this morning with a cup of tea.
Actually, my first visit to Yellowstone was in 1963.
The biggest change between 2007 and our visit in 2010 was the lack of forest fires in the west. 2007 was a really dry year after several dry years and there was a lot of smoke in the air at various times. 2010 saw a higher than normal level of moisture in some areas and there were far fewer fires in the west. On our way to Yellowstone we saw flooding along portions of the North Platte River.
This last winter, the mountains of the west in many places had record snow falls. Reservoirs that have been low for many years have refilled and there was widespread flooding as a result of snow melt combined with rain — though not in Yellowstone.
These are likely normal variations of local climate.
Hi Mike .. that was really surreal to look at (in places) .. beautiful photos .. those ‘hills’ with frothy overflows – are they ancient pyroclastic ‘rocks’? It ‘s a wonderful place ..
.. the lack of card in situ – reminds me of a time in South Africa – before I left .. there was an opportunity to take photos of everyone … many friends in the squash club … I duly did, took the camera home to get the prints made up – took the film, reloaded and went off to put my film in for printing. Nothing — after a bit of investigating .. well (as advised!) I think you’ve put the film back in the camera and reprinted another set of negatives on top .. so I lost both .. I’m upset to this day …!! And the new film .. I’d exposed too ..
What a dummy = me!!! Cheers Hilary
Thanks!
The ‘hills” are made of travertine, a form of limestone deposited by mineral springs. The location is called Mammoth Hot Springs.
Back in my film days, I had a few instances of not having the film properly threaded and taking what I thought was full roll of film before discovering I hadn’t exposed a single frame.