The Thunderstorm Outing

For three months prior to September 4, 2014 I had been researching and experimenting on how to catch lightning. Pretty much crashing and burning in disappointment. I had recently been hired as a Sales Associate at Dollar General, my first job since my mom's death earlier that year. The past year had been one of the worst of my life, and I needed something to help re-kindle me. That would turn out to be probably the most epic image I would ever take in my life. I may never top it. I had taken a lot of mental and emotional shots, some that made me question if I even wanted to be a photographer anymore. Some people resort to drugs or other addictive substances during bad periods of life, I never did. My escape was dangerous, but it was nothing like any addiction. I had always been known for some crazy antics through high school. I had to bring my crazy back! I just needed new motivation, even if the motivation would be something as dangerous as fooling around with thunderstorms. I needed a sign from god that I still had what I worked for all these years despite all the rage and disbelief I had experienced at the time. I had actually been pretty good at putting on a smile when antagonized, but setbacks had me losing that.

This blog is simply to dissect the work and danger that goes into this type of photography. There is no doubt that lightning is dangerous, and unpredictable, but to freeze it in the most epic fashion takes both nerve and skill. I suffered a lot of growing pains in the three month quest.

My quest to catch lightning started in June, just before I begin working at Dollar General. I didn't have any settings in mind, I would learn from experimentation. I knew the odds of my success in this method were low, but in the past I always learned from experience. I was pretty much doing 30 second time exposures consecutively, and toggling F/stops, shutter speeds, and ISOs. I was learning what would blow out lightning shots and what wouldn't. I wanted to catch it striking over a locomotive, and that night it was possible. My goal was not to simply catch lightning in the sky, but to catch it with a co-subject.

This was the first ever lightning I caught. Nothing amazing to see. My newness definitely showed, but the encouragement was this was first contact for me. I had managed to catch the lightning, but it is now time for better composure.

Over the next few months when not working or hanging out with friends I was well vested in figuring out how to catch this at it's best. I did more research, found that I need an f/stop between 10 and 16 and leave the ISO at 100. Shutter speed would remain at 30 seconds. Any higher would allow blown out skies and the bolts would just be a flash of bright light, and lower and catching the bolts would likely not happen. Those were the limits of my Nikon D3200. Another tough lesson was not letting my lens fog up.

I also acquired some new technology. A shutter remote to reduce shaking, and found out my android and laptop could help me track lightning accurately. This was important because now I could tell where the bulk of the lightning was striking, and try to line up with a subject where the lightning could be viewed clearly.

When I had nights off I glanced at radar maps and lightning trackers almost every 15 minutes. I had sufficient gas in my truck always ready to deploy if I felt necessary. I wanted this shot so bad that I had given up a few chances to hang with friends. I knew in the back of my mind that if I can nail this it would be epic. I had suffered about 5 disappointing outings before it finally happened.

So, September 4, 2014 came, everything was perfect. I didn't have to work until 3PM that day . I was watching my radars that night and saw a storm cell poping up over Barnwell County. It was 12AM. As it drifted closer to Jackson I decided to deploy for Aiken to the Aiken Railway's small yard. There three locomotives, and a station sat.

I remember climbing into the truck that night and feeling some chills. I kept hearing voices saying tonight is the night, you're gonna do this. I remember blasting "Welcome to the Jungle" by GNR on my radio, that had always been motivation music for me. I came to play tonight. I had my umbrella, new tripod, my remote, D3200, maglite flashlight, android, and laptop all ready. Part one of my operation focused on the Southeast end of the rail yard where LTEX 1543 and AIKR 4202 were positioned on a side track on Williamsburg street. I had arrived around 1AM I think. Lightning was striking but it only took 15 minutes for it to fizzle out. I felt defeated, and went back to town via park avenue. I used the wifi from the Aiken Brew Pub to check on the map and see what happened. All the sudden lightning struck from the North West. The creeps came back, and I heard voices saying this was it I had a job to do. I saw the storm strengthening. There was a lightning bolt from it every minute. This is what I had waited for. I drove back down to the yard and this time I focused on AIKR 4201, positioned facing the West Northwest with the short hood looking right at me. The storm was approaching Graniteville, and from my apps, no lightning was hitting in Aiken yet so odds were I would be safe. (DON'T ALWAYS COUNT ON THAT THOUGH JUST BECAUSE I DID).

I had spent about 45 minutes standing in the storm with an umbrella over my head toggling settings. Missed a few and blew out a few until I cranked it down to F/10. Suddenly, a loud crash, I finally got what I want but this one was close. It was 3:14AM when I got the shot.

I did not fidget, and allowed the shutter to close before snatching up my camera. When I saw what I caught, I was doing a touchdown dance, and almost spiked my camera until common sense set in. Then another close crash of lighting and I knew I had to get out of there immediately, because the storm was over me and I was in fact in danger now. In fact the lightning in the photo was really too close for comfort, looks about a mile away from my position. I needed to get out fast and I wasted no time.

This operation couldn't have went more perfectly as the lightning bolt was caught in all it's glory, and it was so bright you can see the rain drops suspended. The self-fulfilling prophecy I had been feeling had come true. After removal of a water-bead that had got on the lens and a little sharpening this was the final result.

I wasted no time sharing it on Facebook and submitting to railpictures at 4AM before finally turning in around 5. I woke up around 10AM to see my messages blown up everywhere praising the photo. Checked my E-mail and found out that the image had went so viral that the President of the Railroad, Stephen Hawkins, had e-mailed me to congratulate me that morning on getting the shot. It obviously made the Western Carolina Railway's Calendar. All this transpired in the 5 hours I napped. It would go to earn People Choice Awards on Railpictures.net and a lot of other praises.