Refracted Lightning Bolts
05-04-2006
Location: Hwy 71; Austin, Tx
There was a lightning storm around 11pm. It was raining heavily, so I waited a while before I went out to my car. I chased the storm along Tx-71 E, until I was past the area of lightning and the
rain was coming down so hard that I could barely see. Made a U-turn and parked off the side of the road. To discourage other vehicles from
crashing into mine, I kept my foot applied to the brakes. I set up my film camera on a tripod in the car, looking out the front windshield. I took some pictures with the windshield wipers on, and
tried others with the rain simply flowing down. These were 30 second exposures. I think I used 1.5 rolls of
film (~50 exposures) during this run. At one point, I looked up and my vision was enveloped by complete whiteness, which was accompanied by an intense rumbling of my entire car. The point of impact
seemed to be only several feet away. That was this image. Afterwards, I suddenly became aware of my mortality, and started driving back to my apartment. Within seconds I had stopped again to take more
pictures.
Print Sizes:
$10 --> 10.7 x 7 inches
$20 --> 16.2 x 10.5 inches