Lightning Photos From Chicago Storm

[Ninama]

I only use this word when it''s truly appropriate.... awesome. Truly.

 

[portia]

Date: 8/6/2008 11:42:16 AM
Author: 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!

Yes, me too!! Except it was the hair on the back of my neck (when I was out there)! LOL!

DH says thanks to everyone for the nice comments. I''ll have to post some of his 4th of July pics. The fireworks turned out incredible! The best night shots he''s done.

 

[portia]

Date: 8/6/2008 11:42:16 AM
Author: 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!

Yes, me too!! Actually it was the hair on the back of my neck (when we were outside)! LOL!!

DH says thanks to everyone for their wonderful comments. I''ll have to post some of his 4th of July fireworks shots. They turned our incredible this year. The best night photos he''s done!

 

[portia]

Date: 8/6/2008 11:42:16 AM
Author: 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!

Tuckins1, I keep trying to reply to your post and it keeps disappearing. I keep trying to highlight a line in your post so disregard if 3 of these show up. hehe

Your pics actually made the hair on my arms stand up!
Yes, me too!! Actually it was the hair on the back of my neck (when we were outside)! LOL!!

DH says thanks to everyone for their wonderful comments. I''ll have to post some of his 4th of July fireworks shots. They turned our incredible this year. The best night photos he''s done!

 

[portia]

Tuckins1, I keep trying to reply to your post and it keeps disappearing. I keep trying to highlight a line in your post so disregard if 3 of these show up.

"Your pics actually made the hair on my arms stand up!"
Yes, me too!! Actually it was the hair on the back of my neck (when we were outside)! LOL!!
DH says thanks to everyone for their wonderful comments. I''ll have to post some of his 4th of July fireworks shots. They turned our incredible this year. The best night photos he''s done!

 

[portia]

Ok, duh!! I see my mistake now. Sorry for the quadruple post everyone!

 

[Sha]

Wow, amazing!!! Is your DH a photographer? Those are some really vivid shots. I would hate to be a house under those lightning bolts.. especially that last one!

 

[Linda W]

Those photos are amazing!!! What a show.

 

[Elmorton]

WOW.

 

[portia]

Sha, My DH has been studying photography for the last couple of years as a hobby, but he''s gotten more serious about it in the last 6 months.

 

[omieluv]

Portia, that storm was pretty scary. I am not usually one to get scared during storms, but that one had me a bit concerned. Thankfully, I do not live on the top floor of my building, or else I would have gone into the basement. I stayed away from my windows, as I have several of them, though I wish I could have been brave enough to snap off pictures of the lightening.

Pictures you have posted were amazing and clearly illustrate the power of mother nature!!

 

[Miranda]

Awesome pics! I would be so scared. Lightning always scared the dickens out of me!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Date: 8/6/2008 12:28:23 PM
Author: 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!!

Your shots look like they could have been taken from one specific point in KP between some of the townhomes and the tall tower.

And LOL about the toxic toilet water--when the HH swam across the river last summer (or maybe it was the summer before by now) to get The Demon out it was only 20 days after he had heart surgery. Talk about being worried about the germs! Did you know though that the river status has been *upgraded*" from "toxic" to "polluted"? I kid you not...

 

[Fly Girl]

Great shots!! Can you tell us how he did it? Do you just click away and hope that the lightening happens just then? Or, is it that the lightening was pretty constant during this storn?

 

[wishful]

Date: 8/6/2008 12:26:22 PM
Author: portia
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

I heard that the four seasons back east are
Almost Winter
Winter
Still winter
road construction

hahah....

 

[luvmyhalo]

Those pics are wickedly awesome!!!!! I moved out to SoCal 2 years ago and I can count on 1 HAND the number of times I''ve heard thunder since I''ve been here. I think its only rained 5 or 6 times in that time too! I would LOVE to snuggle up inside and watch a thunderstorm!!!!! I never thought I''d miss the rain

 

[portia]

DeeJay - Oh my goodness! I totally forgot about your husband jumping in the river to rescue the demon. And after heart surgery?! He''s a brave one!! Haha... I didn''t know about the river status being upgraded to polluted. When then, I guess it''s safe for those guys on waverunners after all! LOL!!

Fly Girl - The photos were taken with a Nikon D300 and a Nikon 18-200mm lens. He set it on a tripod and used shutter priority mode with a shutter speed of between 3 - 13 seconds (he varied on a few) at ISO 200. I only know this because I just made him recite it to me. hehe

SDL, I sure hope your son wasn''t directly under those bolts because those photos were looking north of the city. Yikes!! Was he living here last year when Chicago had the microburst?

 

[Ellen]

My next door neighbor came over earlier and wanted me to look at her tree, it got struck by lightening. (not the same neighbor that I mentioned before) It''s a huge Oak, and the same thing happened as with ours, a 20 foot strip (as far as we could see) of bark, about 4 inches wide is gone. But then another 8 inches or so is pulled away from the tree trunk.

She wanted to know if it was like ours that got hit, we''ve lost two Oaks in front, both close to 100 feet tall, due to lightening.

The strange thing is, the ground right around the bottom of the trunk was lifted up. And she said right after it hit, her doorbell rang, and the TV picture turned lime green and purple.

But after turning it off and then back on, it''s ok.

I really hope she doesn''t lose her tree.

 

[Ellen]

Date: 8/6/2008 9:47:42 PM
Author: SanDiegoLady

Date: 8/6/2008 9:36:57 PM
Author: portia

SDL, I sure hope your son wasn''t directly under those bolts because those photos were looking north of the city. Yikes!! Was he living here last year when Chicago had the microburst?

He moved there a year ago, so I don''t know. He didn''t mention anything? He wants to see a tornado.. grumble.

I said there is NOTHING happy about a tornado boy-o.. leave that to the storm chasers..

That''s exactly what my youngest would do if he had a choice.

His mama said no way jose.

 

[partgypsy]

The second pic is my favorite. They so cool!

I really have admiration for nature photographers who catch such awesome "live" shots it is so hard!
I have a new camera and surprise

I''m not instantly a better photographer. At the aquarium I couldn''t get decent pics of the fish in the tanks because I kept missing the "action" in the action shots.