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8-9-09
What a light show tonight! I have been waiting for an opportunity like this all year, and tonight did not disappoint. Again, not really much to write up about since the photos pretty much speak for themselves. I will mention though that there was a derecho moving through central IA, straight east and putting out 80 mph winds right along I-80. But, of course, as it neared the QC, it was blasted to pieces and all we saw were mild wind gusts (40 mph at best).
On my way out to "my" road, I saw some incredible cloud to air lightning, followed by some rather sweet positive strokes. I didn't have any up to this point, so with every one I saw my mph crept higher and higher. I am now kicking myself for not leaving earlier. It was still fairly bright out for long exposures, so the only thing I could pull off at this point was ISO 100, f/4, 2.5 seconds. I gave it about 20 tries before FINALLY nailing this. I was very, VERY happy after pullling this one off. One of my better lightning images, imo.
The show was just getting started. As the sun set a little further, the light show really took off.
"Spider" lightning.
Backed all the way out to 17mm. I only did this a couple of times tonight.
Nicely lit towers.
Taken 30 seconds after the one above.
Ahhh....my head was buzzing right about now.
At this point I was actually thinking about heading home. The mosquitos did everything but carry me away as I sat here. Nothing more irritating than a million mosquitos buzzing around your ears and eyes all the while feasting on your blood stream. Neat.
The light show suddenly stopped to my south. A little bit of action was still popping off back to my east, so I pan that way. I was almost certain the show was coming to an abrupt end here.
One last little treat. I actually nabbed about 80 pictures with lightning in it tonight, but they really weren't all that much.
Apparently now the obliterated bow echo is nearing, still showing some very minor shelf-like characteristics. Winds picked up a bit here, maybe 30-40 mph. It was just enough to shake the truck and end my lightning shots for the night. Oh yeah....all of these were shot with the window mount.
