By Joann M. Ringelstetter
In June of this year, Ruth and I took our annual summer trip to Iowa to photograph along the backroads of our neighboring state. As we headed out on Sunday morning to catch first light at an interesting cemetery, it began to rain. After photographing a few things in between the rain showers, the rain let up for about a half hour. But it was obvious that the storms weren’t finished because the sky was quite dark and we noticed an unusual cloud in the distance.
The route Ruth had planned caused us to turn and head towards this unusual cloud. It was situated over a cornfield and it was beautiful, so I pulled the car to the side of the road and took out my equipment. The wind was picking up and then I noticed that the cloud was rolling towards us at a fairly quick pace.
Every few minutes, a bolt of lightning flashed between the base of the cloud and the horizon. I decided to try to capture a lightning bolt, but I knew I didn’t have much time. The wind and the speed of the rolling cloud were increasing rapidly. I looked down the road and I liked how the cloud hovered above it, so I turned my camera in that direction. Just then, a huge bolt of lightning descended from the cloud where I had been facing a few seconds ago. Wouldn’t you know it!
After capturing the road scene, I turned back towards the cornfield to try to get a photo with a lightning bolt in it. The cloud was rolling ever closer and I knew that I should be getting back into the car. And then a big bolt of lightning came out of the cloud and I managed to capture it – just in the nick of time because it began to rain. So I quickly put my equipment back and jumped into the driver’s seat. I was glad to be safely back in the car.
We’ve decided to use one of these storm cloud photos in the 2013 scenic calendar we will be offering soon. Contact us if you’d like more information and, as always…
Happy Shunpiking!
Joann
Great Storm Pictures
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