Adventures from Behind the Glass

Photo District News (PDN) is the award-winning magazine for the professional photography industry whose on-line presence is Photoserve.com http://bit.ly/1zmIcPX

The PhotoServe newsletter goes out every month to over 15,000  industry creatives. As a photographer (or creative), a subscription to PDN is essential to keeping your pulse on the photo industry.

Considering the quality of imagery in PDN on a regular basis, I’m honored to have my image “Lightning, Outer Banks, NC” chosen as one of their Top 10 images of June 2016.

                                               Lightning, Outer Banks, NC 2005

The image, which is the most powerful bolt of lightning I have ever seen captured on film, was created under some unique circumstances. We were visiting the quaint city of New Bern http://www.visitnewbern.com/ which served as the capital of the North Carolina colonial government, then briefly as the state capital. After visiting places where historical figures such as George Washington, John Adams and Alexander Hamilton had slept, I wanted to visit the famous Outer Banks.

This being before the days of Mapquest, I thought it was going to be a quick day trip and didn’t even bring my tripod. After a two hour drive just to get there, then realizing it would take a day to drive the Banks and explore https://www.outerbanks.org/, I found a hotel on the beach. That night, a thunder storm that shook the building brought me out to the balcony to improvise in an attempt to capture some of the continuous lightning strikes. Using a cloth on the balcony railing, I set up the composition, stabilized the camera enough to leave the shutter open and watched the storm move until…bam, this incredible bolt hit beautifully composed behind the life guard stand. The fact that everything in the image is “tack” sharp, including the lightning hitting the water, as the sawgrass blows slightly in the wind, is extremely fortunate and makes this an iconic, beautiful large print for display.

So, thanks again to PDN for the recognition, and if anyone is interested in having an image on their wall…that will definitely blow everyone away, reach out through http://www.barrystevengreff.com or barrystevengreff@gmail.com