There I was huddled beneath a metal awning next to a picnic table made of the same on a warm southwestern night. The hair on the back of my neck surely stuck straight out from the charge in the air. Yet, there was too much adrenaline flowing for me to care. So, I taunted the Gods and clasped my hand around the meatal cable release that was screwed to an old Minolta SRT 101 sitting atop a Big Daddy Bogen tripod. 

This was my first trip into Monument Valley and when the storm approached I had been whistling a tune while preparing to make camp. Lightning was no stranger to me and I flashed back to my boyhood in Amarillo. I wondered if if this storm would be packing the usual hail and tornados that frequented the elevated plateau in Texas where I grew up. Maybe that is why the fear never came over me. The Storm was always such a welcome change. A quick cleansing of the land leaving the air fresh and clean, plus whitewater torrents to frolic in as they moved thru the drainage channels.

Lightning prints

Flashes of light began to appear over a wonderful pair of tall flat buttes. The realization that camp here was not prudent came to bear as I began to check my film and composition. Not sure of what to do I had just enough experience to know that long exposures would be best. So that's what I began with 15 second increments at f/8. just as I got the first exposure started a big bright bolt jumped from the sky and danced across both buttes in my frame but never left my field of view. I let out a big whoopee feeling blessed and thanking the gods. From tha moment I have been hooked, but the story does not end there.

My bliss filled sense of accomplishment was soon gone as the storm quickly came right at me sideways with piercing rain pockets and howling wind. My come strike me now metal awning was no longer good shelter from the storm, so I retreated to the back seat of my rented Dodge Shadow. Have you ever tried to make salable photos from the back seat of a compact car? Neither had I, and now the storm is directly overhead pelting the car with hail and bolts of lightning seemingly in my lap. Pumped from my first shot I salivated for another and now I pointed the camera in the opposite direction, east as the storm moved over me. It was pitch black and that made composing nearly impossible as each errant flash was a blessing as a millisecond of light to adjust my shot. My minds eye had a vision of the mittens, left and right, centered awash in purple hues and receiving bolts from heaven in all the right places. I tried to keep still for the now 30 second exposures I was doing knowing each breath cold roll the dodge enough to blur the shot. Then blessed like a Pro Quarterback in the middle of a game winning zone came the second lightning photo of my life. Not as perfect as the first but a strike non the less, right in the middle of the Mittens made famous by old John Wayne Movies. I thought, I got it, but really not sure and I quickly as it came the storm was gone. I would have to wait six weeks to return home and have my kodachrome 64 and Ektachrome 50 processed.

Tips for capturing lightning on film:

• your camera must be able to do extended exposures for night time lightning hunting. Either thru program mode or bulb setting. Data backs are good for this and can be set at intervals for hands free operation.
• A good sturdy tripod is a must and I like to use one with good wide rubber feet. If my set up gets struck, the charge will have a better probability of heading into the ground rather than jumping to me and welding my watch to my wrist.
• Film will depend uopn the use you are planning, but as rule I never use anything over 100 speed and you are likely shooting digital anyway.
• Use two cameras, if one fails, you still get the shot.
• Study your storm, lightning is much like the charge you get walking across the carpet. Remember when you touched someone and accidentally shocked them? Yet when you tried it again nothing, you had to drag your feet again to set up the charge. lightning is the same building up a charge as it rolls along and then depositing it on the landscape.
• On safety, the two most deadly places you can be are in open spaces or under trees. If you are struck call 911 as fast as you can. Over 100 people each year are killed in the US.

At any one time about 2,000 thunderstorms occur around the world, can you capture one and bring back the shot alive?

Copyright Christopher Boswell 2006 Webworth Store Page