Last night, I was driving towards the royal town of Sri Menanti when heavy rain, thunder and lightning hit the valley. It was as if Mother Nature was saying; fireworks are lame. She put up a spectacular show, shooting multiple bolts in a 360 degree pattern. The pitch dark sky was beautifully lit with the simultaneous strikes.

I quickly set up a tripod under a bus stop at the turning to the palace and museum. The bolts were mainly of the random intracloud (cloud-to-cloud) type and thus were unpredictable in its direction. Needing something to juxtapose, I decided to hand hold the camera and walked into the rain. As a result, I got this shot that not only captured the burst but pin-pointed the location too.

Warning: Outdoor lightning photography is very dangerous. Before attempting, read up and understand the risks and safety measures to adopt.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 4000, f3.5, 1/40 sec.