Although I have new pictures of other subjects, I'm only posting one picture this week because - as far as I'm concerned - there IS no other picture to post with this one. In my semi-humble opinion, it's probably one of the best pictures I have ever taken.
I've always wanted to get good shots of what I call "clean lightning" - lightning that is not obscured by rain, cloudiness, or any other meteorological condition. Big, heavy, forked bolts would be a major plus. Beautiful or well-known scenes backlit by the bolts would be almost too much to ask for.
Last Monday morning - August 1, 2011 - at just after 2am, I got all of that in this picture taken from home.
New York City was clear as can be, from the Empire State Building right down to the shimmering One World Trade Center building (which still has 28 floors to be added).
Right over Hackensack, the sky was clear and stars were visible. You can't ask for better conditions to photograph lightning.
Since it wasn't raining in Manhattan, the cloud and bolts may have been out over the ocean.
You can click on the image to see it larger and I would suggest doing so in a dark room or at night (or both) to see the interesting-looking cloud that generated this light show.
I really had trouble getting to sleep that night - very tired, but also very anxious to download the images and start working on them.