Photographing lightning is one of those moments in an amateur photographer’s career that seem nearly impossible. There are so many factors to consider that one might think, “Why bother trying in the first place?”

First of all, you need to have the right background. Lightning comes over my house nearly everyday in the summer, but I’d never try to photograph it. There are too many trees, houses and streetlights that block the view of the sky, rendering any photograph I take useless.

Because lightning is quick, you have to hold the camera perfectly still to prevent the image from becoming too blurry. Any camera shake and the moment is gone. You could use a tripod, but that’s not practical with a simple point-and-shoot camera.

And all the above assumes that you can capture the moment the lighting strikes at the precise time. Oftentimes when I have tried to photograph lightning in the past my fingers were too slow and the lightning was gone by the time the shutter closed. Lightning photography should be reserved for the pros…or so I thought.

One evening on a cruise in the Atlantic I noticed a lightning storm in the distance. I grabbed my camera and this was the result.

Pretty amazing huh? I couldn’t believe it myself. Did I do it with a fancy camera? Nope. I used my trusty Canon A610. Setting the camera on rapid fire mode, I left it on the railing of the ship and let it take off. At the end of a 15 minute period I had close to 100 photos of the horizon. Only about two of the photos were worth sharing – so I thought I would share them with you here since Orlando has been having some nasty lightning storms lately.

Being able to have a photo like that in my collection was way cool. But I learned something too. I had thought that shooting lightning was impossible and not worth the effort. But I took a chance and tried anyway and succeeded. Sure 2 out of 100 isn’t great, but it’s better than 0 out of 0. What are you giving up on without trying? Push yourself to take a risk. You just may be surprised that you too can catch lightning in a bottle.

As an airplane fan I’ve always wanted to visit this beach and see for myself if all the photos I’d seen in magazines and online were true. In 2007 we had a family cruise to the caribbean and as luck would have it, our ship docked on St. Marteen. This would be it!

Maho Beach is not a beach to tan at. The sand strip is very narrow and there are hardly any amenities. On the left-hand side of the beach is a dive of a restaurant/ bar. It’s gimmick was a broadcast of the Air Traffic Control Tower for restaurant goers. It also had the timetables for the big jets, but I found their intel a bit off. On the right-hand side of the beach is a resort hotel. Nonetheless, you don’t go here to soak up the rays. This is a beach to watch the planes fly in.

Most of the day was cloudy and rainy. Not a good day for capturing photographs, or standing outside. But as the afternoon wore on, the clouds lifted enough for us to enjoy the water for a bit until the big jets arrived. There were lots of small aircraft at first. Later came some smaller air carriers. The best jet experience came from American Airlines.

You can see from this photograph that the plane is literally right over the heads of the people on the beach. Here is another one, but of a smaller aircraft.

For an additional treat you can visit my Flickr site for a photo of a DHL plane landing AND as a special bonus, a swimmer in a very revealing, stringy bikini!

Now I know what you are thinking, I must have photoshopped these airplanes into the photo. Check out this video I found on YouTube that shows just how close these airplanes can come to you.

Yesterday’s sign spoke of danger at the beach. Despite the harrowing clip above, the dangerous part is not the landing, but the departure of aircraft. I tested it out just to be sure. When the jet engines accelerate down the runway they create a blast of air that literally knocks you over. The beach has a slab of concrete from the sand into the ocean directly behind the runway presumably to prevent erosion. The force of the jet blast is powerful. Here is another video that demonstrates how powerful the blasts can be. Fast forward to 1 minute into the clip.

A trip to Maho Beach is certainly a not-to-be-missed experience. The taxi ride is longer than most of the other beaches on the island (and subsequently will cost you a bit more), but the trip is well worth it. If you do your homework ahead of time and check the timetables for KLM, American Airlines and Air France (airport code SXM), you’ll capture some great photographs and memories. This is one of my favorite adventures.

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