Lightning Lover
I’ve been wandering all my life in search of great light to photograph. To make it into something remarkable. It is a rarer occasion when the light comes to me.
This is how this project started – at home, awake before sunrise, sipping a delicious cup of coffee. I could see flashes from behind the closed shutters and the coming of the rain and wind. Out on my balcony in the distance I see lightning striking the sea…and getting closer (I count the flash and thunder times to gauge the distance). Soon it was right in front of me over the sea. And being a chaser of light I had my tripod and camera setup already. If the light wants to come to me, so be it, I will be ready.
It is usually very very dark if not pitch black when the exposures are made so the only light is from the bolts. It is these strikes that cause the clouds and rain to be illuminated displaying their hidden depth and complexity. My exposure may be 2 minutes but the instant of light can be measured in milliseconds.
I had never tried to capture lighting before. It was always in my mind that going out and standing within a lightning storm to be a fool’s folly. And I am correct. It can be quite dangerous. Many a photographer or golfer have discovered this to their great dismay with the result being death or disfiguration. But what the hell, I’m on my balcony safe as far as it goes.
So I started capturing lighting from the comfort of home. I am lucky enough that it is not too uncommon to have a passing storm full of bolts of light. And this is my fourth year doing so.
Now it is habitual for me to check my weather up for potential moments I could capture. Sometimes the rain is too thick or the bolt too far away but patience has always been one of my tools. And it is patience that makes this such a profound personal experience – I don’t have to be by my camera to take the photos as it is doing what I want it to do, but I stay anyway and take in the experience. Being surrounded by lighting is a tremendous experience, it is humbling in a way that you will never feel in the realms of civilization. It is raw energy, unharnessed, intimidating, random and boy o boy does it make the best smell! The ionisation of the air is pungent and uplifting.
That morning was the beginning of a new obsession for me. The images were stunning and even more so close up and enlarged as prints. Truly unbelievable – to see the detail, the fine threads of light and the bursts of colour captured with my camera that are invisible to the naked eye. It is just too fast and too bright to truly appreciate what you’re seeing.
In my last shoot the storm was many kilometres away with little rain so I ventured out to the beach and set up there. This was even better than my cosy balcony – the storm was far away but it is better to be in the elements if one can. The results were great and I can’t wait for the passing storm.
These images and more can be found here in this gallery
I did a little research and found some fun and interesting facts about lighting I’d like to share with you.
- The temperatures of lightning are 8,000-33,000°C (15,000 -60,000°F) developing a peak current of up to 10 kiloamperes or several hundred million volts. – that’s five times hotter than the surface of the Sun!
- Strike travels at a comparatively gentle 435,000kph (270,000 mph)
- When lightning strikes sand or sandy soil, it fuses together the grains to create a small glass-like tube known as a fulgurite.
- Until the late 18th century it was believed that ringing church bells repelled lightning so many church bells bore the inscription fulgura frango, meaning ‘I chase lightning’.
- A method to determine the distance between lightning strike and viewer involves counting the seconds between the lightning flash and thunder. Then, dividing by three to determine the distance in kilometers, or by five for miles. Immediate precautions against lightning should be taken if the F-B time is 25 seconds or less, that is, if the lightning is closer than 8 km or 5 miles.
- The temperatures of lightning are 15,000-60,000°F
- developing a peak current of up to 10 kiloamperes
- several hundred million volts.
- strike travels at a comparatively gentle 270,000 mph.
- When lightning strikes sand or sandy soil, it fuses together the grains to create a small glass-like tube known as a fulgurite.
- While the intensity of a lightning strike can make them appear as thick bolts across the sky, the actual width of a lightning bolt is only about 2-3 cm. The average length of a lightning bolt is about 2-3 miles.
- The charge carried down this small channel is so intense that the temperature of the lightning reaches 30,000 °C – that’s five times hotter than the surface of the Sun.
- Did you know, until the late 18th century it was believed that ringing church bells repelled lightning so many church bells bore the inscription fulgura frango, meaning ‘I chase lightning’.
- During a thunderstorm, bell ringers would run to the bell tower to ring the bells. However, a high tower with a metal bell was in fact about the worst place to be.
- Between 1753 and 1786 in France, 103 bell-ringers were struck by lightning and killed, resulting in the custom being banned.
- are advised to assume the “lightning position”, which involves “sitting or crouching with knees and feet close together to create only one point of contact with the ground” (with the feet off the ground if sitting; if a standing position is needed, the feet must be touching)
- According to the CDC there are about 6,000 lightning strikes per minute, or more than 8 million strikes every day.[11] As of 2008 there were about 240,000 “lightning strikes incidents” around the world each year.[
- A method to determine the distance between lightning strike and viewer involves counting the seconds between the lightning flash and thunder. Then, dividing by three to determine the distance in kilometers, or by five for miles. Immediate precautions against lightning should be taken if the F-B time is 25 seconds or less, that is, if the lightning is closer than 8 km or 5 miles.