Its hard to believe this was a year ago already! Most of you have seen these shots but i never really shared the story of how they came about!
The shot above went far and wide online, mainly on social media, featuring on pages like Sussex life and the BBC, doubling my Facebook following in one day by being shared thousands of times, became my best selling print and actually paved the way to me getting engaged to my beautiful girlfriend...... all of which my brother is taking full credit for......
The night was pretty normal as i remember, we were just chilling at home, little one was in bed, we had just finished watching a film, my girlfriend went up to bed and i was just heading that way myself when i saw a few flashes of lightning as i was locking up, i then received a text from my brother, it was 23:07.
he lives on the seafront so has a good view of these things.
The shot above went far and wide online, mainly on social media, featuring on pages like Sussex life and the BBC, doubling my Facebook following in one day by being shared thousands of times, became my best selling print and actually paved the way to me getting engaged to my beautiful girlfriend...... all of which my brother is taking full credit for......
The night was pretty normal as i remember, we were just chilling at home, little one was in bed, we had just finished watching a film, my girlfriend went up to bed and i was just heading that way myself when i saw a few flashes of lightning as i was locking up, i then received a text from my brother, it was 23:07.
he lives on the seafront so has a good view of these things.
My first thoughts were to get to near the pier and try to get some shots of the lightning over the top, (lightning photos can be amazing but i find you always need another element, a focal point, ideally a famous landmark or similar) the storm before this one i missed, slept straight through it and the next day i was kicking myself when i saw all the images online that people had managed to get.
I got to near the pier and sat in the van watching for a few minuets, nothing much was going on, a few small flashes but nothing spectacular, i thought if the storm was further away the best chance to see it clearly was to head up high, i drove from there to beachy head with confirmation from my brother that what i was thinking seemed right, as i got up onto the South Downs BAM i saw a massive fork of lightning come down, i stopped near to the Beachy Head pub where there was quite a gathering of cars with people watching the storm, the views were ok from here but no good for photos, i thought Belle Tout Lighthouse could be the best place to be, the lightning was over the sea in that direction and its a stunning lighthouse, i got there and parked in the lay-by at the foot of the hill leading up to the lighthouse, parking side on so i could photograph from the shelter of the van, it wasn't raining yet but i didn't think it would be long looking at the sky!
Lightning lighting up the underneath of the clouds showing them swirling around
It was at this point setting up my kit i hit my first stumbling block, i had left my tripod head at home, shooting mainly wildlife i use a big telephoto lens which requires a different type of attachment, the Gimbal head that i use for wildlife is almost permanently on my tripod and i don't generally carry the other one with me unless i know i'll be shooting landscapes just to keep my bag weight down (it now lives permanently in my van! lesson learnt) i managed to set my tripod up and balance my camera on the gimbal head, when you take lightning photos you use a technique called long exposure, this is where the camera takes a photo as normal but instead of the light being exposed to the sensor / film for a fraction of a second it can remain open for seconds, minuets or if required even hours, this is how photos with car light trails and photos of stars streaking across the sky are done. so for this the camera needs to be completely still for the duration of the picture, any movement will blur the image, even the tiniest movement can ruin the image completely, i knew keeping the camera still was going to be the biggest challenge especially as now the wind had increased and at times was blowing the van rocking it all over the place.
 | This is the sort of image you can end up with if you move the camera during a long exposure, with the camera shutter open the sensor captures any light that enters it during that time so if things move it records the movement, great if thats what you want it to do but in this case i was worried that if i couldn't keep the camera still i could only have images like this to remember this epic storm. of course i took this image just to illustrate the problem ;) |
Having the camera and tripod like this made composing the image difficult too, setting up the shot making sure the lighthouse was in focus and the shot duration was right as well as keeping the composition as i wanted would have been so much easier if id remembered that vital piece of equipment, but as you can see it all worked out pretty well,
The wind was howling by this point and the rain came down a few times so hard that i had to close the windows and just wait for it to pass as there was so much water pouring in the van and over my equipment (i also now have a camera/lens waterproof cover......always learning)
There was also one crack of thunder at the same time as a huge flash of lightning, it was right over my head and the noise was incredible, it was one of those "is my time up" kinda moments, i could hear the electricity crackling right above me, another thing from this night i won't forget in a hurry!
The display was amazing and by this point it was nearing 2am, the lighting was slowing and was less dramatic so i decided to call it a night finally getting into bed about 2.45.
As with all digital photography you can only tell so much from the screen at the back of the camera and at 2.45 am i wasn't looking for too long and it wasn't until the next morning when i got them on the big screen that i would know if any of the shots were as good as they looked, luckily they were even better than i thought, i posted one shot online that morning and i got so many notifications and messages about it that my phone battery died in 2 hours!
One of the messages i received was from the owner of the Belle Tout lighthouse, David Shaw, he had seen the photo and invited me up for a coffee to talk about it and about getting some prints done, one to go in the lighthouse and one to go in his living room. I also got a guided tour, having never been in there is was really interesting and great to learn all about the history, plus it was a beautiful day and the views from the top were awesome.
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As well as the prints David also had the image on the Lighthouses official Christmas cards, he also has some small prints for sale in the lighthouse,
David kindly offered me a stay in the lighthouse something i was very excited about, i had been thinking about proposing to my girlfriend and thought this could be a perfect location and something to remember, being only August and thinking about proposing in May (the 5th anniversary of when we first met) keeping the secret of the stay was going to be tricky!
Luckily enough i was able to keep quiet (a minor miracle) get a ring and well to spare you the long version (must remember this is a photography blog haha) she said YES!!
 Just after Sunset just after proposal at the top of the lighthouse | We had an absolutely perfect night in the lighthouse and if you ever fancy staying somewhere a little different i cannot recommend it enough the staff and the setting combine to make it a very unique place to stay with that homely feel, we stayed in a room called the keepers loft which is the real lighthouse experience as this is the room the lighthouse keeper had when this was a working lighthouse. its an amazing quirky room and the view from the window is Beachy Head lighthouse! so cool! |
Well thats kind of where this story ends, we are getting married next summer and have this night and the night of the storm now as a wonderful memory..... and yes my brother still thinks that its all down to him haha, He has one of the shots as a canvas in his living room but he's still after royalties!
If you got this far thank you for reading, hoping to do more of these so open to suggestions about what you would like to read about? Stories like this, camera techniques / tutorials/ camera settings, information about different wildlife, any suggestions leave them in the comments.