Lightning Fishing

Last night brought one of the biggest thunderstorms we've seen around here for some time. Lightning lit up the house, and the accompanying thunder woke me from sleep, kept Hannah awake late, and had Murphy barking almost non-stop for what seemed like an eternity.

One of my favorite things to do during lightning is take photos. So last night, while Murphy was barking, and Hannah was nervously waiting for the storm to end (Eva was sound asleep through the whole thing, and Patti was nest-feathering), I got my camera and tripod and headed to the large bedroom windows upstairs.

Hannah saw me and was very curious why, in the midst of this horror, I would be preparing to take photos. So she came and sat with me, in the dark bedroom, and watched as I attempted to catch the beautiful flashes of light. She even coined a phrase for it: "lightning fishing."

Over the next hour or so, we waited for the "big ones," checked the digital screen after each exposure (sometimes with "oooh!"s and "wow!"s), and talked about many things. I think, over the course of our "fishing trip," Hannah's fear of the storm turned to wonder and excitement. I think too, that it helped her to see nature's fury as something to respect, but also as a thing of sublime beauty.

Maybe she'll take her own kids "lightning fishing" one day.

In case you're wondering how to shoot lightning: I put my camera on a tripod, set the shutter to an exposure of 30 seconds (the shutter is open for the entire 30 seconds, recording everything that happens during that time), and set the aperture between f/8 and f/16. Click the shutter release, hope that some great strikes happen during the 30 sec. exposure, and wait!