Humanity In Its Proper Place by KatesFriend
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The first days of summer. Hot and humid. Heavy might describe the weather. But then a chill draft sweeps about the legs. You can't tell from where it came but you actually shiver in the heat of the day. Next, a stiff blast hits the chest. Your sweat freezes. It builds quickly, surprisingly quickly, the pressure, the wind, the cold. Then a rain drop whips across the face rather than plunking on the scalp. The sky darkens, a second later is the heavy rolling rumble. The cold pelting begins as you are swamped by the earthy scent of soaked pavement and soaked cloths. There is something truly awe striking about a storm. Especially one which includes lighting. Humans are proud of our technical civilization - built over several thousands of years. Yet for all we have achieved - from our cars to the mighty Highway 401 in the background - it is completely dwarfed by a common place gesture of nature. Humanity in its proper place on this planet. And speaking of a technical civilization; no more wasted film, no more film at all, one of the joys of digital photography. Practice, experiment, do selfies to your heart's content - I don't. Ah, but there is the limit of your memory card of coarse. Yet who would ever need more than 640K? When photographing this kind of natural phenomena one needs many experiments and a fair share of luck. In this case, I took picture after picture of the incoming storm - maybe fifty - until random chance worked in my favour. It helped that this was a very active storm with lightning flashes every few seconds. Indeed, I wasn't alone in my rapid fire shutter buggery that day. But getting the flashes in frame when the aperture was open was the tough part. For eight years, I had always meant to post this shot. I took it from the north entrance of Yorkdale Mall, an upscale shopping centre in North York - part of Toronto but no streetcars, Rob Ford Heaven. A place which owes it popularity, if not its entire existence, to an intimate but embarrassing liaison with the aptly named Yorkdale subway station. And the transit riders who use it. But lately new management has been trying to dissuade such people from using the mall, well its parking lot really, for easy access to the downtown via the subway. Never mind just how much money these people spend in their mall on food and merchandise when passing through. I wonder what the restaurant owners think of management's new policy of ticketing transit users? It's the shareholders I expect, sniffing out a few more nickels worth of short term profit, they have long been the ruin of good business. Anyways. Thank you all for taking the time to visit my gallery today. A happy Friday to everyone here and I hope you all enjoy your weekend. Cheers!
Comments (16)
tetrasnake
Fantastic natural shot! I like this! Well done!
eekdog
our weather has been record breaking this season. and more too come. cool shocking shot, Clayton.. glad you got around to posting it.
Faemike55
Glad you posted this capture! very cool. have a great weekend
MagikUnicorn
same in Montreal afternoon...lots of rain in 30 min amazing
magnus073
Clayton, I am so happy you finally decided to share this amazing photo with us. I very much enjoyed this presentation and your thoughts behind it.
ArtistKimberly
Incredibly Fantastic,
android65mar
Neat capture-well worth your patience!
Cyve
FABULOUS my friend... Fantastic sky and picture !!!
giulband
Great capture with a wonderful atmosphere and conceptual meanings !!!
flavia49
marvelous picture
rhol_figament
If only I could have captured some of the heat lightning I saw when I was younger. Vast branching forks of light moving from one cloud to another through half the sky. All of this magnificent light show happening above me, all without a sound. I was a bit scared but mesmerized at the same time, nature is a bcth that way... ;)
RodS Online Now!
An excellent capture of lightning - I've been trying to get a shot like this for years. The only way I've managed to do it is to record video, then grab a frame.. Indeed, we are quite insignificant when it comes to the power of nature.. We are merely a momentary gnat in her eye. Interesting that you should mention the many wonderful features of digital photography. I haven't bought a roll of film in the last 15 or so years. Right now, I am scanning all my (thousands of) negatives.. One thing I've noticed is that no matter how carefully you store those negatives, they still end up with dust spots, scratches and other imperfections. I'm sooooo thankful for the healing brush in Photoshop!
pat40
Great capture, it is nice
nefertiabet
Wonderful capture and info!!!
chimera46
I've always hated Yorkdale, and I always will. This shot is a good representation of my mood whenever I'm forced to go there.
moochagoo
Always very impressive.