On August 4th, a procession of thunder storms developed around Marblehead. I had headed out to Chandler Hovey park for the first one and found incredible light that kept me busy but was disappointed by the few bolts of lightning. When the winds shifted threatening to bring the storm closer to Marblehead, I ducked into the car and pulled up the radar. I saw an even bigger storm with purple dots mixed in with the deep red core and thought I would have another chance to catch a bolt of lightning over Marblehead Harbor.
I set up at the base of Marblehead Light believing the structure would serve as a Faraday cage and keep me alive (but planned to race to the car at the first hint of a nearby bolt). I stood there trying to catch a bolt of lightning in frame after frame but was not catching a break.
As the storm neared, the frequency of lightning increased and they seemed to be brighter than those that had occurred in the prior storms. I composed this shot to include Abbot Hall, the harbor filled with boats and enough of the sky to hopefully catch one well timed bolt. As it happened, I saw an initial subtle bolt and mashed the remote trigger to set off a burst of shutter actuations and this incredible purple bolt of lightning followed immediately in its wake.