Lightning Over Mount St. Helens
“Apocalypse Now” – Mount Saint Helens,Washington – Miles Morgan – Featured Photographer
Miles is a photographer I would like to shoot with one day. He works hard and plays hard at photography. A few beers and a bad night sleep in the car is no problem when you get shots like this. Hell, I would have been happy with just the flowers and the mountain. Lightning to boot? Please read the full story below then check out his portfolios at www.milesmorganphotography.com and http://500px.com/MilesMorganPhotography. His personal favorites section is awesome!
Enter Miles:
It started out as a night of pizza and beer (root) with several friends. A lackluster sunset at Mt. St. Helens didn’t dampen the mood, but also didn’t offer any encouraging hopes for a good sunrise. Several hours after bedding down in our respective cars, my friend Mike (aka: Charmin, as he is squeezably soft) was starting to annoy me with his flashlight, as every minute or so he was lighting up my ceiling. I wondered “how hard can it be to organize one’s bed” after 30 minutes or so, and I finally sat up to give him the death glare he had earned. All was quiet until a HUGE flash of lightning pierced the morning sky, and with several blinks I silently apologized to Charmin in my head, while realizing he had been sound asleep the entire time. Scrambling out of my car, I screamed to my friends to wake up, as dawn thunderstorms in the Pacific Northwest are rare events indeed. In a panic I gathered my gear and sprinted towards the flowers we had scouted the evening before, drawing on knowledge gained from my previous attempts at shooting lightning, which numbered zero, I figured my best hope was to get the shutter open as long as possible and fire like crazy in the direction of the mountain. Luckily, it didn’t dawn on me until later that being the tallest guy holding a metal camera rig on a ridge in a thunderstorm is a bad idea, and I happened to have the shutter open when a nice bolt of lightning ripped through the sky next to the volcanic crater. Knowing I had the lightning frame “in the tin”, I shortened my shutter speed to freeze the waving flowers. Blending the exposures in Photoshop produced the final image.
Lightning: 16mm, ISO 50, f/19, 2 seconds
Flowers: 16mm, ISO 100, f/16, .5 seconds.
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The pic fantastic! your story more!!!
This is a STUNNING shot!
Fantastic photo~
Us painters would kill to get onto a location like that. Everything about it is totally desirable.
LOVE THIS! My dad was in on the rescue efforts after the mountain blew (air force) he took tons of photos (he’s a semi-professional photographer) – it’s nice to see the mountain looking beautiful again as opposed to covered in ash!
I wish I could take pictures like this! Beautiful colors and contrast; it was worth the risk!
Breathtaking and absolutely stunning photo!
Oooh! Likey!
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Amazing sight…and photo. We can’t all see such events and locations. Thanks for sharing this…also thanks for the “like”.
Beauteous. Breathtaking.
Wow, What drama! Ann
A brilliant play of colors, tapping into my poetic muse.
Excellent shoot story! And a true WOW photo as a result. So nice that Our Hero didn’t get zapped.
Stunning shot! Nice work, and great anecdote. Being at the right place at the right time, with an open mind, is a photographer’s best chance of capturing the beauty in nature and creating art.
My Buddy Miles!!!!!!!!!!! He is soooo fun to shoot with… warm heart and funny sense of humor, and somehow always manages to get the killer shots while having hair raising adventures…. Bravo to Miles, way to go!
I had a narrow squeak with being struck by lightning once, so I can understand his sudden realisation at what danger he’d been in. Amazing photograph though and the story is very funny, too. Thanks for sharing with us.
Surreal…in a good way.
Stunningly good!
Wow … Wow … Wow!!!
Oh, this is ni-i-i-i-i-ice! Three kinds of phenomenal! Love, love, love it!
Fabulous! Lightning is tricky. The blend was perfect.
Amazing! Had to pin that one!
Absolutely breathtaking
Breathtaking! Definitely worth a few rough nights for!
Simply amazing! The pretty flowers against a stark and angry sky.
Beautiful. I love the contrast of the darkness and the color of the flowers.
It’s incredible!!!
Absolutely stunning!
Where’s the hot lava and the Pterodactyls?
Wow!
Monumental photograph. Great capture. Stunning, in fact. Thank you for sharing it.
Oh WOW how gorgeous is this…the serene flowers the mountains and then the fury of skies
Absolutely Marvelous
Great photo! Thanks
Great composition! This is a beautiful pic!
Quite a statement of power and softness. Both are beautiful especially when combined like this.
Spectacular!
Beautiful. I love the peaceful flowers in the foreground, the looming powerful mountain that grabs your attention and then not to be outdone nature places it’s fingerprint on the entire scene with lightening.
What a fantastic image
Mother Nature at work in so many ways, with the talented eye of a photographer to capture it all perfectly!
Wow, gorgeous!,
Awesome! Love the flowers in the forground awaiting the storm.
Wow! Lovely photo!
Oh Wow! Is that ever gorgeous!
I Love these lightning photos
always dramatic!
Love this photo as this is in my home State of Washington been here many times.
Loved this photo. Great job this is in my home State.
This is one of those photos that makes me hope…some day I can create this. Absolutely gorgeous…the colours, the mood, the clarity.
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As a fairly recent discoverer of the joy of shooting lightning, I can relate!
As a fairly recent discoverer of the joys of shooting lightning, I can relate!
I like your photo. Thank you.
spectacular!
Beautiful. Love the contrast of the serene flowers against a stormy background.
Another great photo. Thanks.
I used to live near Mount St. Helens and I’ve got to say that this photograph captures her at her very best!
Fantastic. It doesn’t even look ‘real’! The foreground & background are both so engaging.
I love the enhanced colors, if they are truly enhanced. Amazing shot, funny story, wish I’d been there. Thank you for giving us magic in this world that can use all the help it can get!
It is a magical photograph…..
Glorious – great story to the shot too
It is a beautiful shot. I can’t imagine the time it took to set it up.
AWESOME.
When the sky is so dark
And the rain shall fall
The thunders roars
As the lightning strikes
We look to the sky
Hoping to get a glimpse
Of God rolling on by.
(msuzanne , http://www.godisiam.me)
Indeed! Thanks for the photograph and the words!
I said “wow!” out loud when I saw this!!
What a stroke of luck! It looks imaginary with the calm and peaceful flowers in the foreground and the ragged and raging storm and mountains in the background. Truly unforgettable!
Breathtaking shot… beautiful colors!
A very rare shot! You are a great photographer! Well, I guess you already know that…
Great shot. Quick thinking after a few beers, really helped here!
Now that is a awesome photo! Love how its set out – Flowers up front, to the hills, then the thundery sky
Love it!
Lovely colors, but I think they have been enhanced too much – not real in my eyes. Maybe I’m wrong. The scenery are stunning.
Awesome – just awesome in every respect of the word
Now I’m half asleep but the first thing I thought of was the poppy field in The Wizard of Oz, after dark that is.
Photography proves itself over and over again.
Utterly amazing shot. I’m sure your friend forgives you.
Spectacular.
quite stunning
mind blowing