Tuesday, September 4, 2012

September 4th

I almost didn't realise it, but today is 2 years since that first quake rocked Canterbury early in the morning, forever changing our lives and the face of the city. And on the anniversary of such a momentous day, it seems that nature still had some plans for us...

The sunset this afternoon was quite spectacular, bathing everything in a strong pinky-yellowish glow. Eventually, I decided to grab the camera and poke my head out the door, upon which I was greeted by the following skies:



And then, only then, after standing in the middle of the driveway looking around for interesting shots to take, did I see the lightning. Sporadically flashing in the distance; a brief glimmer of immense power. Although the weather report had predicted some "heavy rain" later in the day, they said nothing about lightning! I made a hasty retreat back to the relative safety of the doorframe.




I got my camera about one day or two days before the September 4 quake hit (my macro lens was still in its box the night of the quake, and was found in the aftermath, packaging and all resting in a nearby trash can!). In these two years, we'd never had single thunderstorm (well, maybe there was one quite far away). In any case, I was keen to try and get some pics of one in action!





In the mean time, the storm slowly moved closer, rumbling and flashing as it rolled on in. Far in the distance, a plane could be seen taking off from the airport, quickly climbing up to 35000 ft. No doubt that flight would have had quite a spectacular view.



Finally, I managed to get a shot of some lighting! Squiggly lines and all. It's quite hard getting the timing right to just catch it, without it having fired already and blooming up the entire sky....


There was also a very heavy hailstorm that started rolling in mid-way. They came on pretty thick and heavy, absolutely pelting the roof (and all the newly opened flowers :(. At one point, they were striking the windows too, and making such a racket that it sounded like the windows were just about to be smashed.




September 4th. A day of high energy.

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