'Riders on the Storm'

Photographed on June 11, 1994

 The first good storm for 1994... Little did I realize that it was also the best one for the year... Well, maybe the best one... how about one of the best... Usually, when I chase a storm, I leave a half hour or so before sunset... that way, I can be at a horizon and set up before the sky is completely dark, so I get the colors of the sky and a little bit better cloud detail, but when you shoot in less than real dark sky, you have to sacrifice something for the light... shutter speed... In deep, dark sky you can leave your shutter open a whole lot longer (if you wish) than you can in lighter sky... I don't mind the investment of the film because I'm looking for more than just a bolt of lightning... I want good cloud detail (if available) and natural color... I believe that a short shutter time, even in pitch black sky, will allow for better photographs... More film... but better shots when I finally catch one... Anyway, that's why I left my house long before the sun went down and I was out at Lake Apopka while it was still daylight... As I got closer to the lake, I saw all the low clouds moving in... bad news... "well, what the heck... I don't have much to do for the next couple of hours... and besides... I got this brand new, never been used camcorder..." I just wanted to see if I could capture video and still shots of the same storm... or maybe me and lightning together while I'm out there shooting with my SRT... I immediately started the camcorder and just let it run from near the car so headlights from traffic wouldn't flare the light into the lens... After I had captured 'Deja Vu', my limitedition for '94, the low clouds moved off and I could start shooting cloud to ground... but there was one problem... I had been moving down the road as the storm moved and I realized that my car and my camcorder were 100 yards up the road and it was quite dark by now... I had a choice: Leave the shutter closed while I ran back to get the car or leave the shutter open and capture everything that happened on one negative... So I opened the shutter and ran to get my car... It took 45 seconds to a minute to get back to my camera and close my shutter... all these streaks happened within that time frame... Pretty impressive, but way too easy... I like to pick them out - one at a time - with cloud detail and, maybe, blue sky... Hey, I'll take it... (but I like 'Deja Vu' more than Riders...')...

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