Paul M Smith Photography
Oklahoma skeleton barn and skeleton red sprite
Oklahoma skeleton barn and skeleton red sprite
Regular price
$85.99 USD
Regular price
Sale price
$85.99 USD
Unit price
per
Couldn't load pickup availability
On this evening, I started off chasing sprites from northern Oklahoma.
Avoiding the clouds, I ended up in the middle of a wind farm- not ideal for a night shoot, as there are a lot of red flashing lights all around from the turbines. But I found this old skeleton barn in the darkness and figured I could avoid most of the wind turbine lights if I kept the camera low enough and angled it right. After several hours of waiting, an uptick in Kansas storm activity had me wading through knee-deep roadside grass to line this shot up. I was rewarded with a handful of sprites including a massive and unique jellyfish sprite below the strong airglow bands.
It looks very unusual up close as the airglow bands seem to warp the color and intensity of the sprite. These headless sprite elements are unusual, and the sheer size and volume of the excitation suggest to me a very powerful lightning bolt caused it. Likely in the range of 4-5 times the strength of an average bolt.
Avoiding the clouds, I ended up in the middle of a wind farm- not ideal for a night shoot, as there are a lot of red flashing lights all around from the turbines. But I found this old skeleton barn in the darkness and figured I could avoid most of the wind turbine lights if I kept the camera low enough and angled it right. After several hours of waiting, an uptick in Kansas storm activity had me wading through knee-deep roadside grass to line this shot up. I was rewarded with a handful of sprites including a massive and unique jellyfish sprite below the strong airglow bands.
It looks very unusual up close as the airglow bands seem to warp the color and intensity of the sprite. These headless sprite elements are unusual, and the sheer size and volume of the excitation suggest to me a very powerful lightning bolt caused it. Likely in the range of 4-5 times the strength of an average bolt.
-
Highlights
High quality, limited edition print only.