Photos | Absolutely gorgeous storm, with colorful lightning, but no time to shoot

On Sunday, I saw lightning in the night sky for the first time in some time. Storm clouds in the distance were producing lightning that shot upward and outward into the clear sky. Unfortunately, I was working and could devote only five minutes to photographing this storm after most of it had already moved toward the ocean. This pretty exposure, created by my 11mm wide-angle Tokina, was made at the edge of a pond in front of the noosepaper.

While most of the show consisted of intracloud lightning that lit up the clouds, a few bolts did make it out - at least from what I could see at my vantage point. Most were coming out of this one spot on the southern top edge of the storm.

This might be the most interesting thing I have ever photographed during a lightning storm, though it may seem insignificant to many people. But this bolt is the first I have captured with much color, specifically blues, greens and reds. Red sprites and blue jets are phenomena that occur on the top of thunderstorms, but they were only recently documented for the first time. Sprites now have been well-imaged from space by NASA's shuttle program. The bolt at left, which is a crop of the above photo, I'm sure, is neither of these anomalies. In my casual viewing, I met none of the prerequisites - including distance from the storm and elevation - for seeing such a thing. But still, it's cool; don't ya think?