>>>Personal Work>>> Nature Photography in Naples, Fl

I like to get out once in awhile to capture the things that started my photographic passion. Because I started out with wildlife and nature work, this usually leads me to the beach, a park, or the local botanical garden. This week I went to the beach but not for my usual sunset session, oh no! I went out after sunset in hopes of catching a rather impressive offshore lightning storm. I was bound determined that I'd finally capture a lightning strike on camera, and I wasn't disappointed!

I thought I'd share a couple of my favorite images from the night. The first two images are of the very first lightning strike I captured - one in black/white and the other in it's original color.

 This next image was shot several strikes later. I chose this one because I loved how much detail was gained in the clouds when they were illuminated by this strike + the orange light/glow coming from the city to my Northeast.

We stayed out for about an hour before the rain finally caught up to us and we had to pack it up for the night. The fun part, other than capturing the images, was dealing with the wind. On several occasions, the wind tipped my tripod over. Luckily I was always within a few inches of it and could grab it before it actually tipped very far. After awhile, I had to just keep my hand on it because the wind got so strong that it was actually starting to push ME. It was insane, but totally worth it!

I'm planning on going out tomorrow night for our local fireworks show, in this same location. Our weather looks like it may not cooperate all that much, so it may just turn into another night of lightning action :) We shall see. I'll be sure to share my images with you later, regardless what I capture, though.

Hope you all enjoy your 4th of July!