My Photo Is One Of the Top 30 Storm Photos of the Year!
July 6, 2021 Nikon Z6, Nikkor Z 14-24mm at 16mm, .6 seconds, f7.1, ISO 100
My photo of lightning hitting the World Trade center made it into the top 30 out of hundreds submitted to the Storm Photos of the Year contest! Part of making this cut means I got a critique from some awesome storm photographers as well which was great. The next cut is to 10 photos and the competition is pretty amazing, so I'd be shocked to make it further. But it's a real honor to be included--there is some stunning work in there.
This photo is especially meaningful to me because of what I went through to get it. Out in the plains when chasing tornadoes we drive everywhere; if the storm path changes, we reposition. But here in NYC, repositioning is a challenge due to traffic and parking, and that means that once you commit to a location you often can't move if the storm goes elsewhere, and because of that, the handful of us city storm chasers (recent article in Curbed/NY Magazine here) have helplessly watched incredible storms drift off into the distance. Watching the forecast last July, the location I had in mind was the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. Parking there is very difficult, so I took a subway and then rode a Citibike with my cameras and tripod on my back. I got set up, and then as I stepped away from my tripod for a couple seconds, the gust front from the incoming storm blew over my heavy-duty tripod, smashing my Nikon z6 camera onto the promenade. Dejected, I switched the lens (which fortunately survived) to my second camera, and then waited through heavy rain and wind for lightning on the back side of the storm. And, there wasn't any. So, dejected, soaked to the skin and estimating the cost of camera repairs in my head, I packed up and started heading home. And then, boom! A strike. I quickly set up the tripod again, and--over the next hour--caught five more bolts, including this one. When shooting storms--and especially lightning--luck is always a factor, but you can make your own luck by being persistent.