Mark Metternich
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 "Incoming" (at 6 Mile Bend) | |
You are looking about 1500 feet (457 meters) down into a canyon and at an incoming mega monsoon electrical storm, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) away just before it slams into 6 Mile Bend. I hardly had time enough to pull off about 4 series of bracketed exposures before having to run for cover.
Single Exposure
Sony A7R2
Canon 11-24@11mm
f/11
200 ISO
1/160th sec
Lightning Trigger
Minimal Adjustments
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Longer story (for those interested):
After spending several weeks in this location scouting and shooting, looking for some special locations and dramatic conditions, I was climbing around, half way down in the canyon (the canyon here is about 1200 -1500 ft) when I heard a very deep rumbling sound in the far distance. I paused for a moment to see if it would repeat. After it did, I checked the wind direction and then I knew another potentially violent thunderstorm could be on the way. The real question was if I could climb all the way out of the canyon in time to get back to my preferred composition and then to my rig so I could take much needed shelter. 30-40 minutes later, as I reached my rig, armageddon was just beginning to approach the area. My impulse was to dive into my rig (especially after being knocked down by lightning about a week earlier on the North Rim) but the other part of me knew there may be an unusual photo opportunity to be had. With my gear on my back, I ran several hundred yards including some easy scrambling to this position and I was greeted with a scene that honestly intimidated me. This monster storm you see (at about 2-3 miles away - in this photo) was heading straight toward me and I knew it would be on top of me in a few minutes. With my lightning trigger on my cameras hot shoe mount, I set up in less than 45 seconds, shot off about a dozen images, including several lightning strikes, then I RAN back to my rig and dove into it just as fury slammed the area.
Side notes: I have a great friend who is literally down below (I cloned his boat out) leading a fishing trip (he has been doing this for decades). He said a wall of fog, lightning, hail and rain came up the river on this one and then, after a few minutes, massive flash floods poured off the cliffs like waterfalls from 1500 ft up. That must have been an awesome spectacle! This next year I may combine with him for biz. 
As always, thank you for looking!
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