It's Upon Us

Florida's storm season is here, and I couldn't be happier!

Florida is the lightning capital of the United States. Storms born from the steamy weather down here generate approximately 1.2 million strikes per year. While storms can be severe, causing widespread damage and life threatening conditions, I still get so giddy and excited when I see those dramatic clouds building and hear the thunder rolling off in the distance. I want nothing more at that moment than to be able to capture every facet of these beasts as they grow, bursting out beautiful bolts of lightning and forcing stunning cloud formations as the expand and collapse.

I may have mentioned this before, photographing lightning is what got me truly hooked on photography in general. Waaaaay back in middle school, while taking a photography class, I had set up my little film camera on a tripod with a remote shutter release, facing a big storm far off in the distance. Being young and scared, I positioned myself in the safety of our living room, with the camera pointing out one of the big bay windows. I shot all night, adjusting settings, trying to catch a bolt. Unlike now, I couldn’t just quickly peek at the back of my screen to see if my settings were successful. I had to use my best guess based off the training I had gotten, and wouldn’t know until I was able to develop the film in our darkroom much later. While swirling the 8x10 sheet of photo paper around in the chemicals after the developing process, to my delight, I saw the unmistakable contrast of an angry bolt striking the ground. That was all she wrote. I’ve had a camera in my hand ever since. One day, I’ll find a copy of that image and share it with you, I know I kept it somewhere.

I get that same feeling every time I manage to capture these magnificent spectacles. Oddly enough, much of these things I enjoy chasing (lightning, milky way, rocket launches) all happen in the dark of night, which just adds to the whole feeling of a dramatic experience. When I first see them occur across the sky, I typically jump around letting out a gleeful accomplished “YESSSS!”. That feeling is what I’d love to be able to share with everyone, but its really something you can only experience in the moment. Still, I hope that some of that is expressed in my images.

My favorite images are born from storms 30-40 miles away or more. The way they illuminate the thunderheads around them creates a very otherworldly visual effect. Often, I can capture 10-20 or more strikes that I can later layer over each other in post production to depict just how furious a storm may have been. Many times, I’m not able to get out and set up to catch the entire duration, and I end up missing at least the first half of the show, but what I do manage to get still blows my mind every time. An advantage of shooting these from a distance like that is that I’m able to remain relatively save (though rogue stray strikes are known to hit far from the heart of the storm). A second advantage is that I can begin to train myself for the next phase of lightning photography, the Red Sprite! A trans luminous event (TLE) where faint red electrical outburst occurs high above an active storm. They are difficult to capture, and almost impossible to see with the naked eye, but mark my words, I will get one and you’ll be the first to know! Until then, I hope you can enjoy this series of storm images taken from the start of the 2025 Florida Storm Season.

These are a few of my favorites, you can see them all at my site by clicking on any of the images. Check back there often, because the season has only begun. More will be added as I capture them.