Older Photos

I love digital cameras. It's one part of computer technology that I absolutely love. Digital cameras and high volume memory cards have given me almost unlimited ability to take photos of the places I visit. I can take thousands of shots, knowing that most of them might be unremarkable, but that some of them are going to be outstanding.

But sometimes when I'm leafing through my digital files I'll find a shot and won't be able to recall why I took it.

Here's one: 

 

I took this photo in the Tower Canyon area of Yellowstone National Park. I couldn't figure out why I framed it the way I did. I'd taken several from that vantage point that made a lot more sense.

Here's one that's traditional and dramatic:

So why had I shot that other photo that focused on that bend in the river? It didn't make a lot of sense outside the fact that with a digital camera you can take thousands of photos and never worry about wasting film (or even your time).

I decided to enlarge the photo to see if there had been some critter down near the edge of the river that had engaged my attention. But there wasn't. And then I saw what I'd obviously spotted from high up on the lip of the canyon:

It was a thermal feature! Down at the edge of the river I had spotted steam rising up. So there, just at the river bend, was a boiling-hot steam vent.

I'll be damned.

I still get a kick out of looking at photos from old trips. And I still find surprises!