Lightning Strikes the Maroon Bells - a photo on Flickriver

            Decided to revisit the processing on this one years later. I like this better than my previous efforts. Original caption:

For years I have wanted to travel to Colorado for the fall. It’s been a dream that has never lined up with my schedule. I wanted to return in particular to this incredibly well known place in the valley of Maroon Creek where you can see these magnificent mountain peaks, The Maroon Bells. My last visit was 19 years ago. Maroon Peak’s 14,163 foot summit, flanked by North Maroon Peak’s 14,019 foot summit are a gorgeous sight framed up in a deep valley full of aspens and meadows and lakes. On the 4th day of my visit to the area I decided to check out the Bells for sunset. Traditionally this is a “sunrise location” for photographers because of the reflections from the lake and morning alpenglow on the peaks. On this day after little or no clouds some weather was rolling in. I elected to shoot from a place a little down the road from the popular lake to frame up aspens in the foreground and to minimize the chance of other people being in the shot. As a remote chance, I positioned a 5D mark III with the 24-70 2.8L II on a tripod with this view framed up hooked up to a lightning trigger. This storm was not producing a bunch of lightning. In fact, only 4 or 5 times did I hear thunder through the entire time I was there and I never once directly witnessed a bolt. I was keeping an ear open since I was essentially standing in a meadow away from trees all by myself! After shooting with my a7r through the sunset a little ways away, I returned and retrieved the 5D3. I saw that it had taken 3 frames but a quick glance at the tiny and I missed the frame you see here. I thought my remote chance of capturing a strike (a shot I thought of as a dream shot for the trip) had failed. Many days later when I returned home to download all my photos, I found this. I couldn’t have been more surprised by my luck. A lightning bolt scored a direct hit just off of the summit of Maroon Peak! This photo is a little less than 10 minutes after the sun had set, and the warm light from just after sunset was still backlighting the clouds and bands of rain that rained out photographers who were gathered around Maroon Lake just up the road. I didn’t think I would walk away with a unique photo from the Maroon Bells, one of the most photographed places I can think of, but just maybe I have.

Taken on: September 26, 2014

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deadly bells

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Sets appears in: • Colorado

Groups appears in: • Colorado! • Storm Chasers more » • Storms • Colorado Images • Landscape Exploration • CSSS: Storms - There Be A Storm A Brewin! • Clouds, Storms, Sunsets & Sunrises • CSSS: Storms / Thunderstorms (Colorado) • CELEBRATING NATURE • Planet Earth! • CSSS: Storms - S T O R M S C A P E S • in explore • The Fog / The Mist and The Rain • CSSS: Earth - My Perspective, A Personal Focus • CSSS: Storms - L I G H T N I N G (CSSS Required) • Convergence of Nature • CSSS: Earth - Landscape Dominate (CSSS Required) • CSSS: 50 States of Storms / Thunderstorms • WONDERS OF PHOTOGRAPHY IN GENERAL.MARAVILLAS DE LA FOTOGRAFIA EN • Landscapes Lovely « less

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III, f/9.0, 1/5 sec, 59mm, ISO 500 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens:	24
Aperture:	f/9.0
Exposure Time:	0.2 sec (1/5)
Focal Length:	59mm
ISO:	500
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Contrast:	Low
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 12.4 (Macintosh)
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