Lightning Stalker
These pictures and stories are credited to David Stillings
Sept. 15, 1992 - Blue Thunder
When I first saw this storm on the radar, I decided
that I should go to Orlando to try to capture it with the
city as the horizon. As I was heading down Maitland
Blvd., I saw that the cars coming toward me were wet
and they had their lights on... was it raining in Orl.?
The closer I got to I-4, the more I noticed the dark
clouds over the city... "maybe it isn't such a good idea
after all." I drove past the interstate and wound up in
the field next to Tower Place at the Summit just west
of I-4. As the sky got darker (it was just at sunset), I
moved my camera more and more into the blue sky...
wouldn't it be neat if... a bolt would jump out of the
cloud and into the blue sky? Well, it did... and I had
my shutter open. There IS luck involved, as well as
patience, dedication, experience... some imagination...
and maybe, just a little bit of crazy... Mostly it's not
letting anything get in the way of chasing storms...
When I got this image back I noticed that there were
dark clouds above the horizon and low to the
ground... It was then that I realized that, if I had gone
toward Orlando, I would have been covered by low
clouds and rain... That's where the 'luck' comes in...
July 1, 1976 - Eruption
My very first photograph of lightning... I couldn't
believe it... especially since I had been told that I
couldn't capture lightning with my equipment - I
needed light sensors, filters, a motor drive, etc... I
didn't have any of that stuff... I had a Minolta SRT
101, a couple of lenses, a few rolls of film, and a
dream... "Wouldn't it be neat if I could capture
lightning.." Actually, I was chasing a sunset in my 1964
Oldsmobile convertible when this storm covered up
my sunset... I packed up my equipment and headed
home... except that, while I was driving, I had my
rear-view mirror angled up so I could see if any
lightning would come out of the cloud... I have no idea
whether it was a streak of lightning or a reflection off a
car, but I saw something in that mirror... I did a U-turn
and pulled off Hwy. 50 west of Orlando, on the top of
one of the hills out there and I sat there and watched
the... Wow!! "did you see it!!??" Right out of the
cloud!! Wow! but how could I capture something like
that?? I knew that I could never react as fast as the
lightning but... maybe, if I leave the shutter open for
only 3 seconds... I got my camera out... I put it on my
tripod, on the trunk of my car and... "1001, 1002,
1003" close it, wind it... "1001, 1002, 1003" close it,
wind it... It was the 4th shot... I had tried three others,
shooting a fast three seconds because I knew that,
with so much blue sky out there, I would overexpose
easily... I opened the shutter for that 4th shot and
didn't even get "one thousand one" out and that streak
jumped out of the cloud exactly centered in my
frame... Natural colors... a GOOD bolt... thank you...
thank you... The whole title is: Eruption of Man's
innermost frustrations into a world he has created
for Himself
August 31, 1993 - Iroquois Sunset
Just another Tuesday evening... Out cruisin' to see if
there's anything worth going after... I was heading up
I-4 just north of Orlando when I noticed the lightning
coming out of the cloud on the edge of the sunset... I
knew I'd never make it to Round Lake Rd. (between
Sorrento and Mt. Dora, off Rte. 46) so I got off the
interstate at Lake Mary and headed to a hill that
overlooks the interstate near the Channel 35 studios...
I had been there before so it wasn't like I was trying to
find a horizon, more like finding one that I knew was
there so I wouldn't miss everything by trying to find a
horizon in unknown territory... I was on the hill and
ready for this thing but, it sort of fizzled... I only did a
dozen shots or so, and I didn't even think I had this
one because I thought that the lightning had hit too far
to the right - right out of my frame... I was pleasantly
surprised when I received this print the next day
instead of 'nothing' as I expected...
Sept. 18, 1993 - The Quest
"So I was taking a snooze, hey, it was Sat.
afternoon... I woke up about 7:20...the first thing I
did was go outside to see if there were any clouds
worth checking out and due west there was this
cloud... I didn't even check the radar... I locked up
the house and headed on out... I didn't know where
to... but I had to check out this cloud... there was
good detail in the cloud - on the north side of it so I
headed for the hill near Channel 35 studios,
overlooking I-4... What a good 45 minutes... I was
shooting vertical instead of horizontal trying to get a
shot of lightning coming out of the cloud into the blue,
sunset sky... If I got what I think I got, I got at least
one really good one coming out of the north side of
the cloud into the blue sky and down to the earth...
GOOD detail and color... Maybe a couple of others
too... I'm having a hard time with titles this year... Not
enough titles for the collection... It's called 'The
Quest' because I suppose I'm on a personal quest for
that perfect bolt of lightning... This one comes real
close... Did anybody notice the dog's head at the very
top of the cloud? Must have been the 'Dog Days of
Summer'... Sounds like a title waiting for an image..."