Little Rock Lightning

A big storm moved through Little Rock last week, dropping lots of rain and a few stray bolts of lightning. Instead of sitting inside with a scared dog, like I probably should have been doing, I drove out into the storm to try to take a few pictures. I ended up below the I-30 bridge, which I foolishly assumed would be enough to protect me and the camera from the rain. This was what the sky looked like when I got there...



I set up the camera and started taking pictures. It poured rain, with the wind whipping the rain under the bridge and soaking me and the camera. I would wipe the rain of the lens, take a picture, and then clean the lens again. Now getting any picture of lightning is a matter of luck. You have to hope the camera is pointing in the right direction in the second or so that the lightning flashes, and then hope that the camera was actually in the process of taking a picture when it strikes. I took 241 pictures out there, over the course of two and a half hours. Just about every lightning bolt would pop out just out of frame, or hit with perfect timing when I wasn't actually taking a picture. Out of all those pictures, I only managed to get one shot with lightning in it. But it did hit right above the city...