2006 - Traveling on a hot August afternoon, I saw this wonderful storm cloud creeping across the desert valley in Central Eastern New Mexico. I saw a few flashes of lightning and strikes so I decided to stop and see if I could catch it with my camera. I was able to take about 30 shots of the cloud before it moved beyond a good composition location from where I was. Of the 30 or so shots(all handheld, no tripod and no external truigger) only a few actually had lightning bolts show up. The great thing about this shot is that this is the third of the attempts and the best capture of all. What makes this image special for me is that I had been looking for and chasing a day-time lightning shot since about 1999. I had been composing and shooting a waterfall near Lake City Colorado when I heard a thunder-clap. I looked up to see this georgeous dark storm cloud framed with a bright green sun-shiny luscious valley. Further in the background near mountains was rainfall. I raised my camera for the shot but was too late. The lightning and thunder never occurred again for that shot and I kicked myself constantly ever since for missing that one. But this image makes up for it.
All content copyright © 2004-2011 Charles Malone Photography. All Rights Reserved, Worldwide.