Big thunderstorms rolled across central Kansas the evening of July 25, 2015. The first round of storms passed just south of Great Bend; later storms would bring some rain to town. The photos in this series are from the first storms, from around 9pm to 10pm. Lots of lightning all over the western and southern skies, most of which was out of my camera’s field of view. All of these photos are either 6 second or 8 second single exposures.
The evening started off slow, but I finally captured this first big blast.
First capture, it would only get better.
Lots of lightning as the storm slid by town.
This was the biggest crawler that I captured.
Pure power in a single bolt.
There were several fishermen around the lake. Two were on the dock and two more were in a boat on the far side.
The light streak was created by his headlamp as the fisherman walked back to shore.Watching the storm
Thank you for viewing the photos in this blog. Lightning was flying everywhere, with plenty of cloud to ground and crawling lighting.
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Kansas has had a stormy summer, and the last few days were no exception. This blog showcases some of the best photos I captured of the storms. I took all of these photos either in Great Bend or north of Pawnee Rock. Each night that I went out, the radar suggested that a more western view would be the best.
This first photo was taken just after sunset on 7/16. Distant storm clouds glowed in the late light, and I photographed them reflecting in the calm waters of Stone Sandpit.
Glowing reflections, Stone Sandpit.
The next three photos were taken from Pawnee Rock State Historic Site. The passing storm clouds had an ominous look to them; notice the blue glow within the storm. This storm dropped large hail in places.
Storm clouds from Pawnee Rock SHS, 7/17/15, 6:21pm.A break in the clouds allowed bright light to shine on the monument; 6:36pm.Storm clouds behind the monument, 6:45pm.
This last image from that particular storm was taken north of Pawnee Rock, looking north into a strong thunderstorm.
North of Pawnee Rock, 7:02 pm.
I loved the stack clouds at sunset of this image from 7/17. I photographed the clouds over Veteran’s Lake.
Stacked clouds just before sunset, Veteran’s Lake, 8:35pm.
The rest of the photos in this blog were taken north of Pawnee Rock on 7/19, at or after sunset as a massive storm system hammered central Kansas. I stayed dry at first, but eventually the rain came over my location. I set up the tripod under the back hatch of my car and covered my camera with an old flannel shirt. The camera stayed dry; I got wet but not drenched :).
I don’t often see shapes within clouds, but the clouds in this first image appear possessed to me.
“Possessed” cloud.
The next 4 photos were taken looking back south to Pawnee Rock. Each is a single exposure of either 1 second or 2.5 seconds.
At this point, I turned the camera to the northwest. Each photo is a single exposure; the first 4 are 4 second exposures, the last 3 are 8 second exposures. The whole series was taken in under 5 minutes.
I consider this last set of photos to be some of my best lightning photos. The whole experience was great, and I loved the show that Mother Nature put on over the weekend.
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We camped at Sand Hills State Park, near Hutchinson, over the July 4th weekend. The campground is nice, and was very quiet. We currently have 7 small dogs- 4 are ours, 2 belong to my mother-in-law, and we are fostering one for theGolden Belt Humane Society . These were all in the camper with us, and of course one needed to go out before sunrise on the 4th. I am glad she did, because there was a dense fog. I quickly got dressed, and headed out to find a location to photograph the sunrise. I am not not very familiar with the area around the state park, so I drove to one area that I thought might work.
Sand Hills State Park has dense tree growth, interspersed with open areas. I wandered a short distance down one of the paths, waiting on sunrise. Turning around to watch the sunrise, I was amazed to see the sun beaming through the trees and fog. I spent the next 20 minutes moving from spot to spot, photographing the light beams as the sun slowly rose and the fog burned off. I can’t recall having seen this phenomenon in person before, and it was a wonderful, beautiful experience. Please enjoy the following series of photographs from that morning.
Just before sunrise.The rising sun created a soft glow through the fog.Sun beams and fogSun beams and fogSun beams and fogSun beams and fogSun beams and fogThe show was almost over…..Golden glow as the sun rose above the trees.
After lunch, my daughter and I headed home to spend time with my family and to shoot some fireworks. That evening, we decided to go over to Larned for the first time in years. Growing up, we always went to the Larned fireworks show at the baseball stadium. Now, the show is held north of the old Armory. A jazz band consisting of members from the area played prior to the fireworks. They always do a great job, and that night was no exception.
I had just read an article about a different technique for photographing fireworks. This method uses a dark filter that allows for longer exposures while limiting overexposure caused by multiple fireworks. I am very happy with the results. Here is one photo from the finale, which would not have been possible without the filter.
Finale from the Larned firework show.
The complete series from the fireworks can be found in my Larned Fireworks album on Facebook.
The show was a beautiful end to a great day.
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