A flash of light hits the night sky as I am driving home, and my eyes immediately widen in excitement as I ponder whether or not tonight is the night. I quickly calm calm myself as I continue to drive. Will it happen again? Moments pass, and then suddenly: flash! Another bright illumination of the incoming storm clouds. This time I notice there was no bolt, but I'm still intrigued. A few minutes pass by, right around the time I'm pulling into my house, and again: FLASH! I've decided: tonight is the first attempt at catching lightning.

I squeeze through the window that is too small for me and then shimmy up to the top of my roof under the cover of night. The storm clouds are slowly marching over the water while the flashes fire off, but there is no defined bolt. They are all hidden by the clouds, which is disappointing, but a good practice attempt regardless.

I set my camera up with the settings I think are correct and begin taking photos. I release the shutter for 15 seconds, wait for my camera to process the image, then try again, hoping that the lightning flashes in one of those windows.

BOOM!

About 10 minutes in, a massive bolt streaks down to the distant ground, and right in the middle of my shot. I was ecstatic, and I quickly looked at the photo. The problem, though? My settings were not completely correct, so the bolt is still over exposed. The cover image is the result. I look up a "how to" article on how to capture a defined bolt more effectively, just in case I get lucky again.

The night continues, and I capture more hidden flashes, but nothing groundbreaking. In the pause of waiting to press the shutter again, though, I look up and see the stars, bright and clear since there is no moon. What if I can get both? I turn the camera, angle it weirdly, and start the process again.

Click ... wait ... Click ... wait...

Every time a flash hit the sky and my shutter was open, I beamed. It was just exciting to know things just happened to line up. I was waiting for a moment, and sometimes it would happen, sometimes it wouldn't.

The disappointment sometimes came when I looked at the photo. What I found out pretty quickly was that the lightning occurring wasn't the end of the story. I had to have all the other little settings correct so that, when it did happen, I made the most of it. The amount of blurry or dark photos I have from the attempt is pretty large, let me tell you. I was reminded that there were things I could control and things I could not.

I'm not usually one to bring in religion into an article like this, but the words of the Serenity Prayer are true regardless of what you believe in. There are things we can control, and there are things we cannot. Distinguishing them is difficult, but necessary. It really made me think about some things. I can't take any decisions made against me during a job or audition, whether it turned out good or bad, personally. I can't allow myself to think that things in my life would be different if I had just made one key choice differently, because that just isn't the case. The list goes on and on.

I'm new to the whole thing, granted, but I think this idea can be physically shown with photography. It definitely was what I experienced with the lightning. Prepare the camera to the best of your knowledge, set the shot, and press the shutter. Keep pressing it, because one of these times, maybe not today, mind you, but one of these times something will happen. Look at the result, and if you want to improve it, try to improve it. Change the settings. But acknowledge that, even if you change the settings, you may not get another great opportunity right away, or even soon. It may take time before you can put the new settings to work.

Instead, change your angle. Look at something else, and work with what you're given, keeping the new settings you learned in the back of your mind for when you encounter another raging lightning storm. Until then, focus on how to make the most of what you're given now. You may be surprised at the result.

I was surprised with this one for sure. The lightning isn't like, "Whoa," but it's just a cool scene, I think.

It can always be better, though. I really wish It could be more level because I could totally do without those houses in the bottom middle, but then I couldn't have gotten the stars at the top. Just got to keep practicing different things.

Strive to be the best you can be, but don't be too critical. You'll run into enough people who will do that for you.

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