Good pictures should leave an impact on the viewer. Most of us capture our memories with a
quick click, but with longer exposures comes a slower and more meditative approach. Night
photography pushes the boundaries of time and how we seize it.
As a night photographer, time has always been an obsession of mine. I might not be the best at
budgeting my time, but I sure know how to play with it!



I was wrapping up Chapter 5 of this book in Miami and was worried because I didn’t have any
lightning shots to reference. It was 2 a.m. and I was about to crawl into bed when all of a
sudden a shock of white light lit up the room. I put my hat on (yes, it does come off), grabbed
my bag of gear, and ventured outside. It wasn’t raining yet, and I was only a few blocks from
the beach. I could see the lightning in the distant storm clouds. I was surprised to find a crowd
on the beach.



Couples were huddled together, people were swimming, and there was the
general revelry of witnessing nature’s fireworks. Several people were snapping pictures, but I
was the only one with a tripod. I quickly set up and started tracking those bright bolts. I got the
shot you’ll see later in this book about 30 minutes into the shoot, but I was so energized that I
kept shooting and experimenting until 4 a.m.