Canon R5 – Canon 24-70 @ 31mm ISO 50 – f18 – 1/20th Tv – Lightning Trigger
We get some great storms in the desert Southwest in late summer, and this was one of them. I’ve been fortunate to have become friendly with a local storm chaser, and he gets me in the right place at the right time. I’ve been amazed at the science behind storm chasing, which I leave to him.
I live in Tucson about 2 hours south of Phoenix and on a given day we may drive between Phoenix and the Mexican border (180 miles) and Tucson to the New Mexico border (140 miles) - it’s hot and tiring but a GREAT adventure. Storms change direction quickly so we’re never more than 30 yards of our cars and on occasion it’s been a race to get into our cars to get out of the way of storms. Always great fun though.
9 comments posted
Ian Cambourne
Congratulations on a superb image Butch. I always say it's great when a plan comes to fruition. If you go out with the purpose of catching a storm, then catching one at its peak is a great reward. While you (or any photographer) has any control over the weather and conditions at any given moment, you have captured the elements before you very well. Posted: 04/06/2026 09:12:27
Butch Mazzuca
Thanks Ian your comments are much appreciated Posted: 04/06/2026 13:38:47
Raymond Tice
Butch, a masterful image with those superb clouds, a lightning bolt, and heavy area of rain. I do wish we could see more ground as part of the rain is really close to the edge as are the mts in that area. I also wonder of cropping some of the right or the left (maybe the left preferentially to keep the colors on the right) in order to move the storm cell off the center might make the image more dramatic - just a thought. Ray Posted: 04/08/2026 00:34:29
Butch Mazzuca
Ray, Thanks for the thoughts - as always, they make me think. What I see are three anchors - the rain shaft, the lightning bolt and the cloud mass - and my goal was to balance them. You raise an interesting point about foreground and as you know, cropping is always a challenge - like you, I'm going to play with it :-) - thank you again, I enjoy your work and you comments Posted: 04/08/2026 01:32:02
Sherry Icardi
I am always amazed at how an incredibly beautiful image can represent the absolute force of nature and take us beyond the "mighty ferocity" and encourage us to realize how truly magnificent and fierce at the same time.
I do tend to agree with Ray that getting the image more off center might enhance your version...though I'm not certain how I would achieve that. Regardless the image is stunning. I live in Florida where hurricanes and tornados dominate the landscape during the season, and people flock to get images.....but they do not contain the majesty of having mountains in the backdrop....so unlike this image they fall flat! Posted: 04/15/2026 17:39:25
Gary Jones
Fabulous image Butch. My only thought would be adding a bit of foreground to give that more prominence. Your work on the clouds, rain, and lightning bolt are very well done and provide lots of drama for the image. Posted: 04/15/2026 18:31:32
Butch Mazzuca
Thank you Gary - chasing storms is a benefit of living down here :-) almost makes up for the 100 degrees days we get so many of Posted: 04/15/2026 19:36:13
Larry Conly
Wow! Catching the lightening right along the edge of the virga is amazing. I especially love the darkness under the clouds and that patch of strong blue over on the right. Posted: 04/17/2026 14:44:54
Butch Mazzuca
Thank you Larry - storm chasing is hot, strenuous and FUN! I appreciate your comment :-) Posted: 04/17/2026 15:15:35
