Ivan Makarov Blog

The storms that you see in high altitudes in the desert are unlike any other.

I was visiting Provo, Utah (elevation 4,551ft) on a business trip when I took this image. This was taken at Utah Lake very near the same spot where Plate 1 image was taken, except looking in the opposite direction. I saw that the big storm was on its way, and I wanted to take few images before it arrived. In the distance were flashing lightnings, but I didn’t want to lose texture in the sky and in the water with longer exposure when trying to capture it, so I had to try my luck and keep pressing the shutter with hope that maybe I’ll get lucky and capture a lightning. It took 200 shots, but I did catch a lightning with this 1/20 of a second exposure.

As I headed home, the storm finally arrived, and it rained all through the night. It’s been almost two years since then, but I have not encountered a storm as powerful and as good looking as was this one.