“If the thunder don’t get you, the lightning will…”

It’s monsoon season down here in Southern Utah, my favorite time of year.

I love the dark, brooding atmosphere cast from thunder and lightning. There is something elemental and primordial about it, reminding us of our powerlessness against the fury of nature herself.

A few days ago my friend and photography mentor Dawn2Dawn Photography  and I set out on a mission-to capture the ephemeral energy of one such lightning storm.

Up a dirt road a few miles from Zion, we set up our tripods in the midst of several ominous, tempestuous storms. Capturing a lightning bolt is no easy task; its elusive nature makes photographers work hard. We took thousands of photos, moving our cameras around, changing the settings and making sure we were constantly watching for changes and movement of the storms.

All the work paid off in capturing these fleeting electric moments.

I was also reminded, after deleting the thousands of images without lightning, to embrace the tedious toil of the process- the hours of sitting and waiting, the thousands of empty handed exposures, the experience of being in the thick, brooding storm.  It’s not merely about the end result,  but the effort, intention and awareness that creates it.

 

 

July 23, 2018July 23, 2018 by thecrookedtrailblog Tags: Bolts, Desert, Lightning Storms, Southwest, Thunder and lightning, Utah 3 Comments