Lightning

I don't like it. We had them in Cyprus this time of the year when I lived there. Very frightening when you are alone in an open field.

that's gone straight into my faves.

I have several documentaries about it - I'm fascinated by lightning, the shee raw untamed power and beauty and unpredictablility of it

However, it *is* better admired from a distance!

I seem to remember more forked lightning when I was younger: remember one time parents woke us young kids up to watch a thunderstorm, lightning seemed to be in all colours. Of course that was just the after-image, it's too fast to be seen by human eyes, but I remember reds and blues and purples.

nice capture!

Thank you for the comments, this time of year can bring a lot of thunderstorms. Earlier today, the tornado sirens were going off and there were tornado warnings in the counties around us. As far as I know nothing touched the ground though.
The storm I took pictures of had some incredible lightning bolts, I wish I had captured the really impressive ones!

I wouldn't like lightning if I was in an open field either! When I take video or pictures of it outdoors, I either leave my camera on a tripod or shoot from an open door or window. I've experienced close lightning strikes and it is not something I care to experience again!

It can put a damper on the day! I have a few documentaries on lightning; there was one "storm photographer" who had a lucky escape, the bolt hit about fifty feet away from him. he got a lovely pic from it, but all the same ...

Some people hae been repeatedly struck by lightining - one woman was hit three times, and a Canadian park ranger (I think) was hit eight times - but then he did spend his working day fire-watching in a hut on top of a tree.

One place I used to go camping had a sharp drop-off at one end; we were standing there one day, watching a storm develop over the reservoirs in the distance, and didn't notice another storm sneaking up on us from the side until it broke almost overhead. think we broke the four-minute mile getting out from under the trees!