This past Tuesday, I bought a Honda generator, packed my van full of camping and astro gear, and eagerly drove out to Leyburn for a week's worth of shooting under dark skies.
On Thursday afternoon, I heard a distant rumbling which sounded like the neighbours making a racket. Half an hour later, I saw a flash of light in the sky, looked into the distance, and saw a ferocious storm approaching.
I packed up all my gear - faster than I'd ever done so before - and was out of there quick smart. I stopped in the driveway just long enough to snap a panorama with my iPhone (see pic #2)... a menacing sight!
As I was heading home on the highway, the winds picked up and I saw tumbleweeds and tree branches flying everywhere, kangaroos and rabbits madly running across the road wide-eyed, and could see that the storm was about to overtake me.
I found a safe spot to park - well off the highway, downwind of a large open paddock, but half way between a large tree and a metal rainwater tank (in case of lightning) - and waited it out.
The lightning storm approached me, passed almost directly overhead, but luckily I was unscathed. Very scary! Several of the closer strikes were bright enough to leave me temporarily "blind" for 10-20 sec!
The only imaging gear I could reach without leaving the car was my Canon 5DmkII and kit lens (24-105), so here are a few snaps - mostly handheld, braced against the car window and dashboard.
The BOM's weather forecast for the day...? "Possible chance of isolated shower or storm."
Click on links for larger images:
#1 Animated GIF of lightning in the sky (iPhone in movie mode, handheld):
GIF,
MP4
#2 Panorama of the approaching storm cell as I was leaving the observing site (iPhone's iOS 6 panorama mode). The vertical "stitch lines" are all the lightning strikes that occurred in the ~ 10 seconds it took to shoot the panorama. The road in the bottom-right corner leads to the observing field (white dots are observatory roofs).
Other photos are composites taken through my windshield and driver's side windows:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13644418/iis...ite1-Large.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13644418/iis...ite2-Large.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13644418/iis...ite3-Large.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13644418/iis...ite4-Large.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13644418/iis...ite5-Large.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13644418/iis...ite6-Large.jpg