Tag: Thunderstorm

Everglades National Park Thunderstorms June 2015

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June is typically the wettest season in South Florida which also means one of the best times to chase thunderstorms. Unfortunately, this year has been very dry and the thunderstorms have primarily been rain showers. On my last trip out to try and shoot lightning I only managed to capture some nearby solitary rain showers and dramatic clouds. Although I still liked the resulting dramatic images, they would have been much better had I also had a bolt of lighting in the field of view. Hopefully, the storms will become more plentiful as the summer goes on.

I also manged to capture a close up image of a screeching hawk just prior the storms arrival.

Lightning Over Downtown Miami

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I had a meeting in Downtown Miami yesterday afternoon I had to attend.  Luckily I had my camera equipment with me in the car because a good lightning storm started building over the city about the time my meeting ended.

After assessing the radar and the storms position, I drove to the bridge that leads to Key Biscayne and parked under it to stay dry.  The storm was very active and producing lightning bolts every few seconds.  I wanted to try to capture some shots of lighting with the city in the background or foreground.  Unfortunately, most of the lightning occurred out over the bay or beach and not over Downtown Miami.  I still managed to capture three OK shots, but not what I was looking for.

I did miss a good shot when lightning struck one of the skyscrapers.  Of course it struck one of the buildings not within my viewfinder.  Eventually the wind and rain overtook my vantage point and I had to seek shelter.

I did get some funny looks as people drove or passed by as I was standing there with my camera and tripod shooting the storm still dressed in my business suit and tie.

Florida Keys Photography

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I recently was given the opportunity to tag along on a Florida Keys Workshop put on by a local Photographer Robert L. Chaplin.  The workshop started out early in the morning with a trip to Anne’s Beach in the middle Keys.  I captured a great shot of a Mangrove Tree illuminated by the morning sunlight with a color sky and wading Egret.

From Anne’s Beach we went further south to Robbie’s to capture some Tarpon pictures before the crowds showed up.  I got two I liked.

After Robbie’s we continued further south to the old Bahia Honda bridge.  Along the Bahia Honda Beach I found some driftwood that had washed ashore and had been bleached white by the sun.  I used my wide angle lens to get close to it and capture a nice scene between the blue sky and water and white wooden tree.  I also got a good shot of the Bahia Honda Bridge that I liked as well.

We left Bahia Honda around noon and continued our trip south where we started to encounter Florida’s thunderstorms.  While we pulled over to try and capture some lighting shots I found a picturesque lagoon and waded in to try and photograph a lone mangrove I liked.  I was able capture a dramatic storm cloud in the distance to give my mangrove tree a nice back drop.

We did not make it to Key West this trip as we were all getting tired.  We decided to start working our way back north and home.  On the way we saw a great line of thunderstorms coming in off the Atlantic and pulled over near the card sound bridge to intercept them.  I got a great shot of the sun setting with a lightning strike in it surrounded by silhouettes of the nearby mangroves.

All in all it was a great trip and I am glad the Robert Chaplin invited me to tag along.