77281 Glowing Through Fog - 1998
After camping in the rain and snow for two days, I was restless and had to move. This is the Icefields Parkway, linking Banff and Jasper, looking south toward Bow Pass. When I broke camp and began driving south, there was nothing to see except dense fog. And then... shining mountains! I pulled over and squeezed off a few shots.
I happened to be using one of the certifiably worst lenses Nikon ever made, the cheaply made, low-priced, low-performance 35-70 mm, with a polarizing filter. It didn't matter all that much. Being there mattered. I used this shot in a photo column I wrote for Explore magazine, and then it was consigned to the archives.
Half an hour later I was in Bow Pass, above the fog, in glorious sunshine, tramping through fresh snow. I felt rejuvenated, but this was the best shot of the day - the promise proving more rewarding than the reward itself. Or maybe it was just me, seizing a moment. As for that lens, it fell apart in my hands - literally - two and a half years later, on a -20C morning in Saskatchewan. I threw away the pieces and replaced it with a Tamron 28-200 mm, which proved more versatile and optically no worse. It, too, is long gone. Lenses come, lenses go, I don't get attached. They're only tools.
Photographed in Banff National Park, Alberta (Canada); scanned from the original Fujichrome Provia 100 slide, pushed to ISO 200 (1-stop push in processing). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 1998 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
77281 Glowing Through Fog - 1998
After camping in the rain and snow for two days, I was restless and had to move. This is the Icefields Parkway, linking Banff and Jasper, looking south toward Bow Pass. When I broke camp and began driving south, there was nothing to see except dense fog. And then... shining mountains! I pulled over and squeezed off a few shots.
I happened to be using one of the certifiably worst lenses Nikon ever made, the cheaply made, low-priced, low-performance 35-70 mm, with a polarizing filter. It didn't matter all that much. Being there mattered. I used this shot in a photo column I wrote for Explore magazine, and then it was consigned to the archives.
Half an hour later I was in Bow Pass, above the fog, in glorious sunshine, tramping through fresh snow. I felt rejuvenated, but this was the best shot of the day - the promise proving more rewarding than the reward itself. Or maybe it was just me, seizing a moment. As for that lens, it fell apart in my hands - literally - two and a half years later, on a -20C morning in Saskatchewan. I threw away the pieces and replaced it with a Tamron 28-200 mm, which proved more versatile and optically no worse. It, too, is long gone. Lenses come, lenses go, I don't get attached. They're only tools.
Photographed in Banff National Park, Alberta (Canada); scanned from the original Fujichrome Provia 100 slide, pushed to ISO 200 (1-stop push in processing). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 1998 James R. Page - all rights reserved.