As a photographer, especially when working for a newspaper, you never know where you pictures are going to end up.
Before moving to Phoenix I worked for several different newspapers. The last paper I worked for was the Cedar Rapids Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Both my husband and I were on staff there for three years. In those three years I had some fantastic photographic opportunities and took a lot of pictures I am really proud of. But there is only one picture that made me famous in my neighborhood.
Iowa can get some really nasty and powerful storms. While living in Iowa I saw the aftermath of tornados and extreme wind damage. It is not uncommon for lightning to fill the skies. On this particular evening a storm outside was raging, the rain was falling sideways and thunder was shaking our house. As any good photographer would I got out my camera and tripod to try and capture the scene in my front yard. A problem I ran into was that it was raining so hard there was no way to keep my camera dry. I ended up shooting this picture from inside my house through the screen door (you can see some of the texture of the screen in the sky). I sent the photo to the Gazette and it ended up running in the paper the next day.
After this picture was published a couple guys from Rockwell Collins (a communication and aviation electronics company) on their lunch break tracked down my house based on the photograph while trying to figure out exactly where the lightning touched down. I had several neighbors talk to me about the picture and one neighbor even kept a copy of the paper and had me sign it! I have photographed Presidents and celebrities as well as crime scenes and celebrations but in the end the picture that got the most response was of the sheer power of nature.
A couple days ago my former boss from the Gazette emailed me a link to an MSNBC story and slide show that includes my famous lightning picture.
See Picture #4! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32084265