The Passing Storm

Every photo has a story behind it; let me tell you the story of this image. Two years ago, I was fortunate to travel abroad to Adelaide, South Australia for a whole semester. I studied at Flinders University and had a blast, meeting students from all around the world, while taking in the culture of Australia. One night, I saw bright flashes out my apartment window, and decided to check it out. To my delight, I saw surges of lightning illuminating the night sky over Adelaide! I ran back inside, grabbed my camera and tripod, and headed out to find a good vantage point. I found a nice overlook, set up my gear, and started firing away. The thing with lightning is you can only predict where it will strike next. I watched as the storm slowly crossed the city, and tried to frame shots where I thought the lightning would hit next. It was tricky business to say the least. After about an hour and a half of shooting (it was 2:30AM) I still wasn't completely satisfied with my photos. I needed that Wow shot. Determined, I set up for another long exposure (15 sec). I tripped the shutter, and two seconds later, three lightning bolts filled the sky. Once the shutter closed, I saw the image on my camera's LCD screen and knew instantly I had gotten that shot. 

Oh the beauty of digital photography :)