Yesterday on my way to an appointment in the field I was driving through a really bad and close lightning storm and decided to pull over and see if I could capture it on film. The problem I noticed was that I had to stay patiently waiting with my finger half-pressing the shutter ready for the lightning to strike and then react very quickly when it happened. I waited and watched for a good fifteen minutes trying to capture the strikes just as they happened every minute or so during this time.

When lightning strikes it seems like it happens a second or more sometimes, like it happens longer than just a brief flash of light, but once you get there with camera in hand, capturing that flash with your average digital camera isn’t as easy as it might seem.

I took at least a dozen shots and after each shot reviewed in the small viewfinder display. I didn’t see any lightning striking, just like in the picture above, so most the pictures taken yesterday were deleted seconds after being taken.

Just a little bit ago I was transferring all the photos to the computer and came across the pictures below:

And another one:

No, these aren’t Photoshopped pictures, they are authentic Washington lightning storm weather photos taken Tuesday 6/21/2005 illustrating the true force of Mother Nature.

Next time you are in a storm, pull off the road somewhere safe and try catching lighting. Just as long as it doesn’t catch you!

tags: lightning+striking, lightning, storm

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