Sent to you by Sparkie via Google Reader:
Sometimes, a photographer goes out in search of a good photo--and, because of unforeseen circumstances, he comes back with a great photo, one that gets displayed all over the world.
And so it was last night as Tribune photographer Chris Sweda headed to the John Hancock Center skydeck to snap a few shots of the official debut of the Trump Tower spire--and a supercharged storm broke over Chicago.
Chris got the assigned shots as the spire turned from red to blue to white (below), but he got something much more powerful: A rare shot of lightning bolts simultaneously striking the Trump Tower and the Willis Tower (above).
The Associated Press has transmitted the shot worldwide and the Daily Mail of London has already picked it up. "Stunning images," says the Mail.
Kudos to Chris for getting exactly the right angle and for pressing the button at exactly the right moment. He was equally skillful in capturing the aftermath of the storm as the sky and the skyline faded to a golden glow.
Oh, by the way, the Trump spire (a visual flop by day) looks pretty spiffy by night.
(Tribune photos by Chris Sweda)
For more Tribune storm photos, click here.
POSTSCRIPT: Some readers are asking whether the double lightning strike image was easier to capture than it looks. In other words, did a long exposure make separate lighting strikes appear simultaneous?
Tribune photo editors are concluding that the evidence suggests strongly that the strikes did happen at the same time. They are basing their conclusion on the following evidence: Another Tribune photographer, Terrence A. James, got almost exactly the same shot from a different angle (left)--and his exposure lasted just 1/80th of a second. Chris Sweda's picture was a four-second exposure, according to the editors.
Two other pieces of evidence strongly point to a simultaneous strike: 1) Videos sent in by readers--see the comment board--show simultaneous strikes hitting not only the Willis and Trump towers but also the John Hancock Center. 2) When the shots were taken, the internal clocks of both photographers' cameras were set to 7:45 p.m. Although it is possible that Sweda and James took their shots at different times, chances are very good that the photographers clicked their cameras at almost precisely the same instant, capturing the same double lightning strike from different angles.
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