Going Out To Photograph A Summer Storm

The other night I left my house way too late or early in the morning depending on how you look at it. The radar looked really good to make some lightning photos. I did what any other sane person does in a lightning storm and went to the top of a local parking garage to make photos. I have a setup that lets me make photos of the storm while I am safely in my car. That setup cost me a little on this night. I had moved my tripod to alter my view on the clock tower. I found a way to get more of the sky in the frame. When I quickly set my camera and tripod back up I did not take the time to really set it up. I just set it down and found my frame. Then I hopped back in my car. What I should have done is to set up my tripod so that the back legs would brace it against the wind. By not having a good brace I had the fun time of watching a wind gust blow my tripod over and my camera take a six foot fall. I will say that the camera still works, but the back viewfinder was shattered in the fall. I learned a valuable lesson in taking that extra second to set things up properly. The lightning was starting to pick up as I set my camera up so I didn’t want to waste any time holding that big hunk of metal, but I also should have just taken a second look at the set up once I was in my car. I bet that I never make that mistake another time.

My One Good Lightning Photo

It is funny how things worked out. After the tripod fell I brought everything into the car. I was about to call it quits, but I realized that I could photograph away from the wind and make a frame that looks like the one above. The storm would move through and I should get a bolt or two in that direction. As I was getting the courage to get out and set up my metal tripod two great bolts shot through the sky in what would have been this frame. Missing that photo gave me that courage to get out and set up the tripod. Of course those bolts would never happen again, and this was the best that I could do. I stayed out there for a couple of hours waiting for a bolt on the right side of the frame or even in the sky, but it just never happened. Sometimes you get rewarded for sticking it out, and other times you just miss the good photo. While I didn’t make the epic photo that I set out to make I did get to watch an amazing set of storms roll through from a great vantage point.