Canon Elan IIe, tripod Sigma 28-105 at 28mm Fuji Provia 100 f22, probably 1 minute

Distant Thunder

Some slides you just get on the light table for the first time and say, "Yes!"  I had gotten up before sunrise and driven down to Bodie Island Lighthouse for photo ops, eyeing the stormy sky with misgiving. But as the sky was brightening just before dawn the storm was heading out to sea, still giving occasional flashes of lightning in the distance. Okay, then.

Hampered by mosquitoes and early tourists that kept shining their headlights on the lighthouse, I shot 22 frames of this and similar compositions and got only one good lightning bolt. Interior flashes within the cloud gave it some depth.

But I did better than the tourists, who invariably shot about ninety degrees off of this angle and never got the storm in their shots. If there's one important lesson in nature photography, it's, "Look around you."