A thunderstorm approaching Kalgoorlie, Western Australia

Most of us love images of storms or lightning, there is just something about them that forces you to look at them in awe most of the time, this image surpassess all others I have seen. It had to be an amazing time watching this storm unfold right before your eyes.

 

Wonderful work, one I would love to have hanging on my own walls.

Amazing capture. I love the vantage point, the wide open terrain and the bolts of lightning dancing on the horizon. I'm not sure if this is a possibility for in exposure correction, but maybe tone down the brightness of the lights of the boats to accentuate the lightning a bit more.

Yes you can count my WOW! Graeme. Initially, I thought the city light a

bit to bright. The foreground and sky create more drama, almost a

forbodingness which adds to the awe and power of lightening.

I've been wowed before but nothing like this. Thanks Graeme!

 

al kukitz

Don't like the dark foreground!

 

I just imagine when Graeme drove his car when the strom was approaching at night. He needed to find a position to set up his camera. As I also use 4x5 camera, I know the time of setting up in darkness. We are not the one who works in a studio and makes composition slowly to get a perfect one. In this photo, time is the key. As Graeme mentioned, when he tried to load Velvia, the strom just passed. When shooting photos of this sort, we are at total mercy of the weather.

this is totally awesome.. amazing.. the bolts came out perfect.. and i find the bright spots of the city lights totally cool.. congrats.. and thx for sharing..

This looks digitally altered? It seems that many of the photos on this sight are digitally altered. That's too bad. Though it is a nice image.

Digitally altered? Well, it has been cropped and had the contrast adjusted, then it was resized and sharpened to post here. So yes, there has been digital work done on it, but a straight scan of the neg would show the same elements of composition as you see here. If you search through my portfolio, you'll see the colour version of this image - it has had colour added and I would definitely call that digitally altered.

 

Peter, no I wasn't searching for a spot to shoot from just before the storm arrived. I have several spots already scouted and go to the most appropriate one for the storm. I use this particular hill quite often. But thanks for the words of support.

 

Cheers,

Graeme

I tried for years and years to get a good shot of this type... And this photo is so damned good....

Definitely I got a lot of things to learn and a lot of work to do... Probably the POTW I liked more since I come in this website...

The earth needed a jump to get its motor running, and God was happy to oblige.

 

Graeme, I noted this one when it was first posted--the best lightning shot that I have ever seen. Congratulations on PoW.

"this pic is not too original" "I don't like the dark foreground."

 

Are we talking about the same picture? Graeme, you could have gotten fried in the time it took you to set this up with a 4x5!

 

The dark foreground is essential in my opinion, and I'd sure like to see a more original lightning shot if anyone has one.

i got emailed that a elf deletd my coments so I have made my examples of my ideas to be considerd. the first idea is a lake to take the place of the black hill and the second idea is a skull to take the place of the black hill. most poeple will not like the skull idea but thta's ok. I understand that skulls are frightning. but skulls and lightning are twice the fright!

 

Here is the first idea

here is the next idea that most people wont like but maybe some of them will.

I don't get it Alexander. Why?

Maybe a good idea if this site was DigitalAlterations.net. I prefer the photo in its raw form.

Truly spectacular. Il like the original shot, i can not even imagine the gorgeous enlargement!

why is because some one didnt like the black hill so I thought of a trick to make it better. I guess no one likes my ideas. Im not having a good day today. I am out of the grove.

Oh, my apologies Alexander.

Don't worry if someone else doesn't like the dark hill at the bottom - they're free to critique the shot however they see fit. I listen to what others think, but usually don't change my shot unless the suggestion is valid in my opinion. And then I only change the shot as one would in the darkroom - digital trickery is not for me.

Sometimes it's best to have the conviction of your own opinion and not be swayed by the vision of others.

Cheers,

Graeme

You are right and that is good advise. Sometimes I wish I was the photographer Jeffrey Ulesman but othert imes I am glad to be myself only I wish I could make better photos and be in the POW.

The picture gives a strong sense of the city getting hammered. Imagine being there while getting hit by thirteen lightning bolts at once.

David, this was a ten-minute exposure, and the actual strikes appear to be hitting the surface beyond the urbanized area at the time of this photo.

This sort of photography is precious and can only be recorded properly with the type of equipment the artist has used. Yes digital is great but for me you can't beat the feeling you get after lugging around heavey equipment and really taking your time to creat a true master piece both in the field and dark room.

wow, I was in Kalgoolie late last year for the first time and can imagine just how this storm was, we get the occasional lightning storms down here in Albany west Australia but Ive never seen anything like this.

Regards julie

De pana que es la mejor foto que he visto....It?s great...I like that...It?s alsom..I can beliave that anybody can take this kind of picture... CONGRTULATIONS!!

Great image!

Awesome!