Arizona Monsoon 2010

[chupathingie]

Late to the party as usual with a big, enthusiastic ditto. That last shot is frame-worthy; just awesome.

[caradoc]

Thanks, chupa!

I’m also debating a large print of this one for framing…

[orionid]

Whoah.

[lokisbong]

I say Wow! that should be nice large print also.

[CauseISaidSo]

You can just barely tell in the small view here, but if you enlarge the pic you’ll see that stars are visible above the clouds. That’s really cool. Clear skies, storm clouds, and lightning.

[lokisbong]

I saw those. I almost suggested a crop till I saw the stars. 2 thumbs up on that shot!

[caradoc]

Yes, I like the stars in that one – or in this one:

…but I’m also liking the barely-visible details in the foreground of some like this one:

[orionid]

Print them all! Open a gallery!

[caradoc]

Working on a gallery. Currently, most of my prints are on display in a local Audi/Volkswagen service shop’s customer lounge.

[chupathingie]

Too cool… I’m gonna wind up getting struck trying to do some of these someday LOL

[caradoc]

Some things I generally do – when possible:

1) Stay off the ridgelines. The tops get struck more often than the bottoms.
2) Stay out of the valley bottoms – flash floods suck.
3) If there are high-voltage lines nearby, figure the distance that might be covered if the lines fall, and set up just outside that radius. Lightning is more likely to strike the tops of the towers than the ground near them… but you also want to be safe if the lines fall.
4) I occasionally shoot from inside the car, with the camera clamped to the window. This isn’t always a good way to do it, especially if the wind is enough to rock the car.
5) If I can’t be inside the car, I set the camera up and lock the shutter cable to bang away on whatever exposures I’m shooting, then get away from the tripod and cop a squat on a rock or something a bit lower than the tripod. I’d rather blow up a camera than be struck myself.

This was as close as I ever want to be: the bolt struck somewhere within a half mile to my left and slightly behind me…

[caradoc]

Just got word a few minutes ago. See #1 and #8 on Weather Underground’s World View for Aug 30.

http://www.wunderground.com/worldview/

[CauseISaidSo]

Congrats, caradoc!

[ravnostic]

Yay! Whomever took that rainbow had some mad skills, too.

[lokisbong]

Excellent. Congrats . Those pictures both kick ass.

[Author]

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