I have recently returned from a trip to the Banff National Park section of the Icefields Parkway. I based myself at the Rampart Creek Campground, 88 km north of the tourist haven of Lake Louise and explored the area for 5 days. Each morning I would be up before sunrise, trembling in the near freezing temperatures. I would make my way to a roadside pull-over, mix a luke-warm instant chocolate (my thermos ain’t what it used to be…) and coffee mix, recline my seat and watch the stars until the first light of dawn showed itself. I would then cruise down the highway in search of scenery that had the potential of catching the first rays of the early morning sun.
First Light - Icefields Parkway
Now landscape photographers defer from ordinary folk. If someone were to ask me how the weather was on my trip, I would have replied, “Terrible! Four days of clear sunny skies and only one with clouds!”
It can ruin a trip, having too much ‘good’ weather. Flat blue skies are good for postcards, but I was hoping to go a bit beyond that on this trip. I had to rely on a selection of filters – split-field neutral density, neutral density and very early morning light with long exposures to make some images that I am happy with. In the first blue sky days I also resorted to a bit of stock photography of the RV-going-down-a-highway type, but my memory card seems to have been repelled by the idea, because I can find no trace of them – not on the card, and not on the computer or the back-up. Go figure.
So now I don’t trust my SanDisk Extreme III SDHC 8 GB card at all (this is the second time this has happened), and I still have no way of knowing if it is actually the card’s fault or the camera’s. When I discovered the problem I looked for solutions – there doesn’t seem to be a known issue with the card or the camera. I have updated the firmware on the D80, but I don’t know if that was the problem. Is there any way to test an SD card? I would not want to use this card again until I have some way of determining where the fault is.
More on this mountain trip later, as the panoramas are assembled…
(Panorama made with Nikon D80 and the Nikon VR 18 – 200mm zoom lens set at 18mm and vertical. ISO 200, f16, 1/20 sec exposure with white balance set to cloudy. Image assembled with Microsoft ICE, adjusted and cropped in Adobe Lightroom)
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Born in Canada, but of Dutch descent, my early life was influenced by travels with a constantly moving family. We moved through Canada and South Africa until I reached the age of 17, when we settled down in Edmonton, Alberta. Over the years I have developed a multitude of interests which I now share by means of photography and blogging.