A Missed Opportunity, A Lesson Learned
Last night around 10:00 I decided to cool off by taking a drive with the windows down. While going over the toll road I noticed a strong lightning storm off in the east which looked like it was directly over DC. It was the type of lightning that a photographer dreams of with strong dramatic bolts, not just clouds that glow. I decided to try and race into DC to see what kind of shot I could get with it.
It normally takes me around 20-30 minutes without traffic to get onto Constitution Avenue from Reston and I made good time. Unfortunately I decided to try a shot from the Virginia side first from the USMC Memorial. The storm was too far to the south to get a good shot of it and the memorials. That wasted about 15 minutes.
I drove into DC and parked around 18th Street on Constitution, walked about 3 blocks east along the tidal basin and found a good spot to capture the ever decreasing lightning with the Washington Monument in the foreground. Of course I didn’t have a tripod (never have it when I need it) so I found a lightpost to brace against. It took me a few shots to get the settings I wanted and finally settled on a 1 second exposure at f/3.5.
So now I’m ready to capture the shot. The whole time I’m driving, taking a USMC Memorial detour, parking, finding the right spot and getting my settings down the lighting is occurring. AS SOON AS I’m ready to take my first shot….NOTHING! Nothing for 30 minutes. I took over 100 shots waiting and hoping for that brilliant stunning shot. Nothing. Fate decided to tempt me, then tease me, then ultimately disappoint me. When I finally decided to give in and head home I tried really hard not to look back. It would have killed me to see another lightning bolt.
If I had succeeded I would have an image to brag about but that was not the case this outing. The drive home found me discouraged and angry but confused about who or what to be angry with. This morning finds me in better spirits and able to wrap it up as a learning experience. I did realize that a little as a few months ago I would have just set the camera to P mode. It would have taken me at least 10 minutes to figure out the right manual settings then, if I could have figured them out at all. This trip it took me all of 1 minute, I think I had the settings I wanted after 4 tries.
The lesson I’m walking away with is one every photographer has heard at least once. You will never capture that perfect image if you don’t press the button. It may take a few attempts, ok maybe A LOT of attempts, but it will happen. Next time I’ll know where to go and what to do. There’s a possible thunderstorm tonight so who knows, maybe lighting will strike the same spot twice.
Here’s one of the images from last night. The open space to the right of the monument was where the majority of the lightning was occurring when I got to DC. By the way, I’ve got around 100 of these shots if you want one 
