Lightning pictures

If anyone asks me how to get pictures of lightning, I just tell them that you just have to be faster than the lightning!

First, wait for a thunderstorm. (Duh)
Then, wave your metal tripod at the lightning.
When your hair stands on end, point the camera.
Open the shutter and hope you are lucky.

Each of these picture averages about a 5-minute exposure.

Night bolts displaying an odd near-symmetry
Evening desert bolt
500mm zoom bolt
All the best lightning of 1997

The monsoon season in 1998 started earlier and did not end until the start of October, but it was not as intense. 1998 pics are below. Midsummer cell The cell in the cloud seems
to discharge in several directions.
Upper cloud illumination along with more ground lightning.
Distant storm with clear sky overhead.
More bolts
Summer of 1999 Lightning
Lightning 2000
From a storm on July 31, 2001

The Organ Mountains

EVERYONE (Almost) who has stepped foot in Las Cruces has tried to take at least one picture of the Organ Mountains, usually at sunset when the desert dust casts a red glow to them.

Here they are in the daytime from my neighborhood. The Organ Mountains
Here they are again, at sunset. The Organ Mountains AGAIN
A sunrise over clouds over the Organs
Here they are again, after a snowstorm Snowy Organs
Yet again, at night (same picture is on astrophotography page) Night Organs
Rainbow over the Organs

Now, IN the organs, theres easy access to the Aguirre Springs and Dripping Springs areas.
Rocks around Dripping Springs area of La Cueva
The Dripping Springs waterfall
Mountain scenery seen from Aguirre Springs pine tree loop trail
Plant life seen on the trail, and here is a frozen waterfall

White Sands National Monument

A cool place to get lost, you can walk to a place where you are completely surrounded by nothing but dunes of white sand, and the distant San Andres Mountains. Heres a sample of the scenery.

Mueller State Park, Colorado

This area, just west of Pikes Peak, is an area of rolling mountain terrain at an altitude of around 9000 feet.
Colorado is famous for its wildflowers. Here is a sample of what grows there in early August.
Here's some wild mushrooms
A sample of the surrounding mountains

Central Colorado

Vacation pictures from July 2001
Wildlife seen on the trip (Some of these guys were pretty tame actually)
Scenes from our campsite
Scenes from our hiking trips
(Yes, we went to all these pretty places!)
The very popular reflection of the Maroon Bells in Maroon Lake

Sacramento Mountains

This is a surprising high country area in Southern New Mexico surrounded by high desert.
Summer plant life in the high country near Cloudcroft.
A young tame deer wanders into civilization near Ruidoso.

Bird Pictures

This collection of birds comes from a midwest winter site (actually my parents' house). There are a male and female cardinal, a red-headed woodpecker, and several finches.

The Rail