Dream On,

Last night was the stormiest I have seen in Tempe. For a few hours rain, lightning and thunder entertained the people at Tempe, who in all probability have forgotten about this commonly occurring (in other parts of are blessed planet) natural phenomena called ‘rain’. Of course you had the few who continued chatting with friends online in their couch , others who couldn’t miss a moment of ‘sex in the city’ and some were satisfied after a perfunctory peep out their window, but I was outside trying to get some pictures. I would never have guessed that lighting and thunder and a prospect of a good picture can get me so excited and crazy. I spent hours trying, but with no tripod, no access to a roof, and my paranoia about my camera getting wet, it was not looking good.
Guessing where the next strike would be was rather interesting; I knew that once a bolt happened, it would take a while before the charge increments to a potential high enough to create lightning again... so no point focusing the camera in the same portion of the sky. So I see two main could regions south and south east with lot of lighting activity… perfect, I thought I can alternate between the two.
Crack!! A large strike dead south... (Remember recharge time), so I point towards S.E with a shutter period of 15 seconds. My camera takes extended shutter periods, so a 15 second shutter interval requires another 15 seconds of processing before its ready to shoot again.

I’m holding as still as I can, pointing S.E (remember no tripod) and click, capturing image… and Crack, WHIP, Crack!! Three fantastic lightning strikes in the SOUTH!!!

So obviously it takes less than 15 second for charge to build up in thunder clouds.

No sweat, reduce shutter period to 8 seconds, the S.E cloud was inactive for around 30 seconds… oh boy was it ready to lash out now!!

Same routine, point S.E, Clicked, Holding steady… capturing image…waiting… 8 seconds pass… camera is now processing… and the WHOLE sky turns hot pink, an inter-cloud discharge ,a bolt spanning many miles, moments later BANG, it's shockwave!! Now the clouds down south compete, multiple strikes like what I have seen in NGC!! Fireworks stop, I close my gapping mouth, look down at my sweet little camera, its status light turns green…so now it’s ready to shoot!!

You can guess, the next one hour was … well bitter sweet… sigh

Here are some of my reletively better results.


I had a very disturbed sleep that night because, the AC was not getting my room cool, I shift to another bedroom, and there were bed bugs… Weirdest thing, I dreamt I was in a lightning storm, the most brilliant displays I have ever seen, and against the flashes in the background I see a parachute drifting down. It fell right beside me, the payload a well sealed box. Open it… Cannon EOS Rebel! Another parachute… a set of wide angle and tele zoom lens, and I don’t remember how but a tripod popped out of somewhere too.

Happy, sleep… late for work next morning...