I tried to photograph lightning late last night during the first and second waves of some pretty hefty thunderstorms. Things did not go as planned, as the lightning became too unpredictable, thus too dangerous. I did get a shot of lightning over the city of Boston, from my perch along the Winthrop coastline. Dejected, I went home and then to bed. Just prior to bed, the weather radar on my trusty iPhone app., was showing a line of heavy storms bubbling-up near the Connecticut/Rhode Island border. These storms appeared to be growing and moving toward Boston. I was too tired and dejected to wait for them, so I wait to bed. Ninety minutes later, at approximately 2:30am, I was awakened by thunder. I noticed that the frequency of the lightning was impressive, with maybe 1 lightning bolt per every 5 seconds. I headed out again but was a bit too late, as I needed some time to get set up (with a tripod, etc,) and to get to my position (trying for a city of Boston skyline foreground). This storm was too fast and the heavy rain, as well, was not helping matters. Finally, thinking the storm was over, it was time to get home and go to bed. Then, my weather app. pointed to some regeneration of the lightning at the tail end, the Southwest end, of the storm. I set up my tripod, Canon EOS 1DX, cable release, and Canon 100-400mm II lens, setting it at 248mm, along the coast of Winthrop. I set the ISO to 50, and my exposure was 5 seconds at F5.6. I do not ever like to “fudge” a photo, so whenever the first burst happens, I then shutdown the camera, thus keeping it real with the one moment of impact. I pointed the camera toward Graves Light lighthouse, and I waited, and waited. Finally, at 3:18am this morning, four large lightning bolts, during a split-second cloudburst, appeared over the Boston Harbor landmark. This photo is almost full frame, as I cropped in from both sides and a little from the top. I have a bit of a too-tight scenario happening at the base of the photo because it was hard for me to tell where the lighthouse and horizon lines were due to the extreme darkness. I was happy nonetheless. Thanks for viewing my site.
Posts Tagged ‘storm’
Some of my favorite Boston aviation moments of 2013, in photos.
by markadmin Posted: Monday, 12/23/2013As a professional photographer, a Winthrop resident, and a self proclaimed aviation fanatic, I have enjoyed bearing witness to some fun moments in and around Logan airport. here are some of my photos from 2013.
Rarely does a city embrace an athlete the way Boston embraced Bobby Orr. I snapped this photo today while working at the Boston Herald, and my phone and twitter account have not stopped ringing since. I certainly know that I have not snapped an award-winning photograph here, rather an everyday, run-of-the-mill photo. The response to the photo is a testament to the power of the relationship between Orr and the city that still loves him.
Here, below, is my contribution to a very strong job of covering the storm by the reporters and photographers at the Boston Herald. Lastly, please spread the word regarding cleaning the exhaust pipes of your car before starting the car. The last photo here shows Boston firefighter Steve MacDonald peering into a car where a boy was killed yesterday after being overcome by carbon monoxide fumes.
Here is the only photo that I was able to pull out from this morning’s violent lightning storm. I ran to the Herald roof after leaving the photo desk, as I was a fill-in assignment editor today. The storm seemed to be a safe distance away so that I would not be in any danger up there. All of a sudden the lightning that had been in front of me and over the Prudential Center was now in back and over me. I waited for the heavy rain to stop and got the tail end of the storm exiting the coastline over Southie.
This moment was around 9:30pm tonight. A strong bolt, but I wish my foreground was a bit more interesting. Maybe next time…