A spark in the distance
Colorado storms rarely announce themselves for long. One moment of light can transform an entire horizon into a canvas of electricity.
sometimes the Lightning Finds you.
There’s a certain amount of patience that goes into photographing lightning. You watch the clouds, wait for the right moment, set up the camera and hope the storm gives you something worth waiting for.
But sometimes, none of that matters.
A couple of weeks ago at Pueblo Reservoir I was just getting started photographing a distant storm. I knew I wanted the landscape to be a bit on the darker side to give room for the exposure of the lightning flash. Camera is focused, aimed at a dark horizon and the shutter set to 1/50th of a second. All I need was an exposure test before setting up the lightning triggers.
I pressed the shutter.
At that exact moment, lightning exploded across the horizon.
It was completely unplanned. No timer. No prediction. No carefully timed exposure. Just a single click that happened to coincide with a bolt of lightning.
Of course, after that, I spent the rest of the evening trying to capture another one.
Sometimes photography is about preparation and technique. But every once in a while, it’s about being there, pressing the button and getting impossibly lucky.
This photograph was an exposure test to prepare the camera to capture more lightning strikes. I pressed the shutter and the entire sky illuminated with electricity.
Electricity in the Valley of Fire, Nevada.
Twenty years ago, I saw the potential for a storm coming across the desert — and I knew I had to be there. Twelve hours of driving stood between me and the lightning, but sometimes you don’t wait for the storm to come to you. You chase it.
The First Strike
I watched the storm building through the windows of the photo lab, knowing I couldn’t just stand there and watch it pass. I grabbed a roll of color negative film and headed out. No warning, no plan, just instinct — and this became my very first lightning photograph.
I remember hiding in my truck during the experience.