During the long, cold, and boring days of winter I often wander though my colossal gallery of images.
Several terabytes of digital reproductions of the real world. And often come across the photos of the violent summer storms that are a summer staple on the prairies.
I miss the summer every year. Wishing for spring to come, and then summer with it's many nights of static might.
I have always been a sucker for a good thunderstorm. My first memory of this earth was of a great storm cloud spinning and churning over the southern Alberta prairie. I was hooked for life! Though my childhood I could not ignore a good storm. I would sit for hours watching and even today at 31 years old I look forward to the storm season "sparking" to life
When I was on my own with my own place I finally decided to buy a camera, in 2005 it was an Olympus point and shoot.
Quality was not the best and it could only shoot a 4 second shutter, but with some summer storms here, that is plenty long enough.
I used my little camera for several years until the spring of 2008 when I spent the $749 for my first entry level DSLR camera. Summer 2008 wasn't super great to start, but after all the best show around here comes in August.
Over the first 3 weeks of that month a series of vivid lightning storms would make friends from all over the world. August 5th, 8th, 11th, and 18th were notable nights. Some of my first quality lightning photos were absolutely jaw dropping, and even to this day stand out in my photostream.
Pretty much every year except 2009 and this last year(2017) have netted me hundreds of new quality lightning photos, I probably got thousands of them.
What you have seen above is only 2007 and 2008. I've got 10 more years of this stuff.
2010 marked the year I started to use lighting triggers. These self made or store bought gadgets detect lightning and tell the camera to snap a photo, all in a fraction of a second
Shooting around sunrise or sunset results in some spectacular shots.
Some may ask, how do I shoot without getting wet? Simple really there are 3 ways I've kept my camera dry
First is not shooting when it's raining, when the storm is about 10 miles away.
However sometimes I can't get around the rain or hail. So i find a dry place to shoot from.
Like an overhang, a gas station, or a gazebo.
And then there is my favorite way of keeping the camera dry. The mighty Hatchback!
A wonderful piece of metal and glass that offers a portal of the wild world of nature, from the dry and conformable back seat. I got the idea of using the hatch and also sliding doors (if I have a minivan), as a way to shoot up close and personal from a friend I met online who shoots lightning in and around tornado alley. Shane Kirk
But even with this added layer of protection the thunderstorms here in Alberta offer their greatest challenge. Just try to shoot lightning when giant hunks of ice are being hurled at you and your camera.
But keeping away from hail is somewhat easy, if you know how. Very strong radar echoes at the highest tilt is a good indicator of big hail. In some countries the public has access to VIL(vertically integrated liquid) And dual polarity radar can really point out how big hail is in a thunderstorm
I drive around for a thousand miles each year in search for the next powerful storm. A never ending pursuit three decades running and I'm never going to stop chasing.