Lightning Photos From Chicago Storm

[portia]

My DH took these photos of the wicked storm that blew into Chicago last night. I think they turned out pretty darn good considering this was his first time taking lightning shots. When we first looked at them on the computer we were disappointed because you couldn''t see the lightning against the sky, but then he adjusted the lighting in Adobe Lightroom we were amazed at what was captured. We definitely going to try this again!

 

[portia]

Another...

 

[portia]

Look at those clouds...

 

[portia]

.

 

[portia]

Hubby''s favorite...

 

[portia]

And the macdaddy of them all... Whew, glad we weren''t up on the far north side!

 

[somethingshiny]

Those are great photos! I love your DH''s favorite, too. It''s so amazing to see all the faint lightning in and around the main bolt. I''m fascinated by storms and DH and I usually park our butts on the porch when a big front comes through just to watch it.

btw-I''m in central IL and we got hit hard, too!

 

[portia]

somethingshiny,

I love storms, too! I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago far enough out to live amongst the cows and corn! My dad and I would always hang out in the garage with the doors open and watch the lightning or we''d go out and drive down a country road with an open area (a safe area

) and watch the storms roll in. Great childhood memories!!

Wow... central IL? You must see you''re share of huge storms and tornados! We get t-storms in the city, but never tornados so it was a bit unnerving to hear the tornado sirens in the city and then the power go out. We''re not used to that anymore!

 

[Deelight]

That is one massive storm and some UBER fantastic photo''s

completely awesome

 

[somethingshiny]

We get plenty of storms and tornado warnings, but we''ve never had a tornado at our house. My grandparents live way out in the country, though, and frequently have cyclones pass through their property and rip off roofs and trees. Thankfully, no one has ever been hurt.

 

[miraclesrule]

Wow, those are awesome photos. I am seriously thinking about taking up photography. I want a Canon and I want to know how to use it.

Although, I think I would be a wee bit scared of storms like that, which we don't get in San Diego. I was in Oklahoma once when a storm came through and I thought the house was going to fall down. That's when I learned about storm doors and windows...again, we don't have them here.

The next day there were trees and porches and everything on the ground. YIKES.

I'd rather look at rad photos of the storms, thankyouverymuch.

 

[portia]

Yes, I''m definitely frightened of them too, but then I''m also fascinated by them as well. We live in a building that has concrete floors and ceilings so we felt pretty safe. Although we did hear some neighbors on the upper floor go into the garage... definitely wouldn''t of wanted to be on the upper floors. Scary!!

 

[strmrdr]

awesome pics!
thank you!

 

[Skippy123]

Gorgeous pictures, I also remember the AMAZING pictures your husband took! Love them all! Thanks for sharing

btw; I had never seen your wedding pics until TGal started the wedding pic link; those are sooo beautiful!!

 

[arjunajane]

Totally cool Portia - I love storms.
Your hubby is a great photographer, the last one belongs in a magazine/book!

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Those are fabulous. We''ve had some pretty rough storms in the NE this summer. I should start carrying a camera to catch the crazy lightening/cloud action.

 

[purrfectpear]

Got life insurance on him? Just sayin'' if he''s going to be standing outside in the storm

Those are extremely good photos

 

[scarlet16]

Those shots are GORGEOUS!

 

[Ellen]

AWESOME shots!

Love it.

We are a few hours south of you, and had a nasty storm as well. We were all sitting on our breezeway, watching/listening to it. Lots of lightening here as well. All of a sudden, there was a thunder clap SO loud, like right over us. I knew it had hit something close, there was no doubt. Sure enough, we looked out and saw a huge strip of bark stripped from the side of a neighbors tree. I wouldn't be surprised if there was other damage, but I haven't gone out to really look.

Thanks for the pics!

 

[angel_nieves]

I love those photos.

 

[joflier]

I love lightening photos.....something about it is just so fascinating. Thanks for posting them!

 

[meresal]

Great pictures!!!

I know they say lightening never strikes the same spot twice, but I think your pictures may prove the theory wrong!! Where in the world is that hitting?!? I was watching the Astros/Cubs game and could see it as well. Crazy!!

 

[dani13]

Great pics, Portia. Your hubby has an amazing eye!!!

 

[Blair138]

Cool pics! I live near Chicago and we got BAD rain and some pretty bad hail-the lightning was awesome though!!

 

[jcrow]

what incredible pictures! wow. scary, yet beautiful.

 

[wishful]

Whoa! those are amazing photos! I'm originally from the east coast (MA) and I do sometimes miss thunder and lightning storms.
We don't have them out here in CA very much...at least not like that!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Portia, great photos! The poor Demon was shakin'' in his furry little boots the whole time--what a storm! You''re not in KP by any chance, are you?

 

[Tuckins1]

Holy smokes!! Those are absolutely amazing photos! You guys should send those to CNN or something. I love lightning, I think it is one of the most beautiful (and terrifying) things in nature. Your pics actually made the hair on my arms stand up!

 

[portia]

somethingshiny, Deelight, miraclesrule, strmrdr, scarlet16, Macie, Dani, jcrow, thanks so much! DH is getting a kick out of reading all these comments!

Skippy123, You have great memory! DH has continued to get involved in photography more and more. He bought a huge professional printer about 4 mos. ago. It''s huge!! Prints 11 x 18 prints and uses 100'' rolls of paper. He also bought a mat cutter so he can now print, mat and bag his photos. I think the idea is to sell some photos to eventually pay back the printer cost buuuut that hasn''t exactly happened yet! LOL! He''s going to be out of a job on Sept. 15th so I told him he better start selling his photos!! And thanks for the compliments on the wedding photos. Not as artistic and professional as I had wanted, but then again, its Telluride... what can you expect of a small former hippie town?! That was a great idea Tgal had. I love looking at everyones wedding photos!!

arjunajane, I like that last one, too! It''s amazing that when we first looked at the photos, you couldn''t see anything. Then, as he changed the contrast settings it revealed the awesome lightning bolts. Ah, the power of digital!!

Hudson_Hawk, It''s been a crazy summer for bad weather. Seems like the entire country is getting hit with crazy weather. If you get any great shots of the NE storms be sure to post them!

purrfectpear, heheh... actually I was out there with him. I figured if he''s going, I''m going, too!! He can''t leave me behind! LOL!

Ellen, Wow... scary! I sure wouldn''t want to be directly under the lightning. You guys are brave!!! My parents live in the suburbs with all these old oak trees around. They''re always worried one of them will fall on house.

joflier, I know what you mean! I''m fascinated by them as well. Love to watch, but only from the safety of our ''lil concrete home!

meresal, I''m not sure where it was hitting, but it sure looked close and like it was hitting in the same location. Scary! I sure wouldn''t have wanted to be up where the those bolts were striking. I mean... they *had* to be hitting something!! Were you at the game?

wishful, I would love to move out west, but I do think part of me would miss the storms and change of seasons. I guess you have to decide... do you want sunny weather all year or do you like having 4 seasons, rain, t-storms, wicked cold, hot & humid, etc. Hmmm... yeah, I think could take the sunshine! haha

 

[portia]

Date: 8/6/2008 11:40:16 AM
Author: Dee*Jay
Portia, great photos! The poor Demon was shakin'' in his furry little boots the whole time--what a storm! You''re not in KP by any chance, are you?

Dee*Jay, Hi neighbor!! Awwww... poor lil Demon! I know how scared dogs get of storms. How did Oscar fare? Our kitties were pretty calm, cool and collected about the whole thing... so very catlike! They''re like... ''Um, yeah... can you put more food in my bowl when the power comes back on? Yeah, thanks!'' [puts head down and goes back to sleep]

We''re not in KP - we''re a bit further north. Did you see how high the river rose? Not as bad as last year''s big storm, but still... the thought of that water overflowing frightens me! Bleh! On a side note, do you see these people in the river on wave runners lately? I sure hope they don''t have any open cuts on them before doing that. Toxic toilet water... eeeewwww!!