John Skiba Photography

08/15/2023

This was a slow moving storm, so I had plenty of time to photograph lightning before the rain arrived.

08/12/2023

Lightning strikes near Penrose, CO

08/11/2023

Purple Rain

08/08/2023

Lightning strike near Canon City, CO.
I shot this from high ground north of Fountain, CO

06/09/2023

Well, here is my first post since Sept 2022. It's starting to look like we we'll have some pretty decent storms near me this year.

This was a single lightning strike!

09/05/2022

Hanover, Colorado 9/2/22

06/22/2022

Rush, Colorado 6/10/22
This storm didn't produce a lot of lightning, so I was pretty happy to capture a ground strike.

06/15/2022

I've had a slow start to storm chasing this year. Between personal challenges and rising prices, I haven't ventured far from home. I don't chase storms professionally, so I can't recoup the cost as easily.

I decided to take a chance last weekend and chased a storm from Calhan to Limon, Colorado hoping it would produce some decent lightning.
It didn't disappoint. Not only were there some nice ground strikes, the clouds were illuminated from within revealing the flow and structure of the cell.

05/06/2022

Doesn't seem like 6 years ago

Road H

This is a dirt road between Road G and Road I somewhere in eastern Colorado.

Sometimes I drive for an hour to find a road that is long enough, lonely enough, and dark enough to spend 15 minutes looking at something that most people rarely see and some people never see.
I’ll sit in the dark and wait for my eyes to adapt until I can actually see faint shadows cast by the starlight.
In the plains I listen to coyote howling in the distance and an owl hooting somewhere nearby.
In the mountains I’ll listen to elk bugling and the tops of pines rustling in the breeze.
This is Colorado.

I shot this photo on a night when the sky was clear and the moon wouldn’t rise until morning. It was 10 pm when I decided to head out in search of an empty road in the middle of someplace dark. The Milky Way breaches the horizon just after midnight this time of year, so I figured I could get a photo and be in bed by 1:30 or 2:00 am so I could get to work in the morning. This is but one of many sacrifices we take to get the shot we want.
We have spent sleepless weekends trudging through marshes, stumbling through thicket, and wading through snow looking for the perfect composition only to be let down by a weak sunrise, a frozen river, or rain storm. We have stood next to our broken down vehicle in the bitter cold with no cell phone signal waiting for the next passing vehicle. We've driven into ditches, put ourselves in the path of severe weather, and leaned over the edges of cliffs.

We have done all of this and responded with laughter, and determination resulting in strengthened friendships and a better understanding of what it truly means to go the extra mile for our art.

08/30/2021

August 26th, 2021 near Ellicott, CO

This storm didn't have much lightning, but I was fortunate enough to catch a bolt or two.