We were staying in a small boutique hotel in Amalfi overlooking the Mediterranean.  Each night, the hotel's owners prepared a "happy hour" snack plate and we were enjoying the evening's treat before heading out to dinner.  We happened to meet another couple and were visiting with them when the storm clouds rolled in.  I saw some lightning in the distance and had to excuse myself from the conversation.

We had a balcony that was bigger than the room itself.  I set up my tripod and hoped the rain stayed far enough away to get a shot.  In order to shoot the lightning without a special "lightning tripper" attachment, you need to have some good timing and luck.  I left the camera shutter open for each shot about 30 seconds.  This means that I had a 30 second window and hoped that lightning struck somewhere in that half of a minute.  Most of my shots ended up to be pretty...but no lightning.  I was shooting film back then so I had no idea how the shots looked.  It is so much easier now with a digital camera.

When I returned home and had a chance to develop the rolls I found this shot.  It was one of the last pictures I snapped...right before I had to take cover due to the rain storm hitting the balcony.

Ohhhh, the memories of Italy.  I really think this has been our favorite country to visit so far.  I have many photos from this trip hanging in my home.  On the third leg of the trip, we stayed on the Amalfi Coast.  Our hotel was a small boutique hotel with a cute couple that owned the place.  He was the cook and she was the face.  They were a great combination.

Our room had a balcony that was bigger than the room itself...and the room was not small.  I set up the camera and tripod so that I looked down the small, two lane road that hugged the coast.  We chose not to drive this road and instead hired a driver to get us to and from the hotel.  It was much more enjoyable looking at the water while hugging the corners rather than trying to maneuver blind corners and hills with a cliff next to you that dropped down to a rough ocean.

I knew this shot worked when I took it.  I had to use a filter to darken the sky so I could get some detail out of the road and buildings on the cliff.  Some would do this in Photoshop.  My iPhone now has a function that attempts to pull off this feat with fancy electronics.  I think the fun new tools are neat and all, but I still try to do as much editing in the camera instead of spending time sitting in front of a computer.  I would rather know how to take a great photo than take a good one and really know Photoshop well.