Lightning Strikes over St Catherine's - Sea Area Wight

THE PHOTOGRAPH

Photographing lightning can be both exhilarating and frightening. There's a lot of guess work involved. You set your camera up on it's tripod and shoot long exposure after long exposure, hoping lightning will strike. Close enough, but not too close.

I was up all night on this occasion, chasing the storm fronts around the island. As I pressed the shutter on this picture, I felt my skin prickle with the static in the air. It's an exposed spot to be standing during an electrical storm with a large metal tripod. But excited with capturing this double strike, I decided to risk one more. The next exposure on the film is bleached white by a strike that left me sitting on the ground with my ears ringing.

HOW WE MAKE THE PICTURE

We build everything ourselves in the gallery. The photograph is printed on the very best archival matte canvas, hand coated in a matte varnish we import from America, and then left flat to dry for a few days. This means the picture can be cleaned with a damp cloth, and the great thing about a matte finish with no glass is that you have no distracting glare or reflections. It's a much more direct experience.

Whilst the print is drying we can get on with making the stretcher frame and the tray frame that the finished canvas will drop into. The tray frame is then either hand painted or stained and waxed. The canvas is then stretched over the stretcher frame so we can assemble the whole piece and add a wire for hanging the picture.

Finally Neil writes the days weather forecast in silver on the canvas, along with the longitude and latitude of the location the photo was taken. Also signing front and back  adding the title and edition number.

We use the very best materials, and I would expect my pictures to look exactly the same in 100 years. They won't fade in our lifetime. 

BUYING OPTIONS

This picture is available as a framed stretched canvas, and comes in three sizes as detailed below. A shipping charge of £35 is added at checkout for the larger sizes, and £20 for the smaller one.

Large Stretched Canvas Framed in a Tray Frame: £450

Limited Edition of 150

Framed Size 77cm by 77cm (canvas 71cm cm by 71cm)

XL Stretched Canvas Framed in Tray Frame: £575

Limited Edition of 50

Framed Size is 93 cm by 93 cm  (canvas size is 87cm by 87cm).

Small Stretched Canvas Framed in a Tray Frame: £170

Limited Edition of 250

Framed Size 38 cm by 38cm (canvas 32cm by 32cm)

Canvases can be rolled and shipped abroad unframed. Please get in touch for a quote.

Feel free to call Neil on 07957 473693 with any more questions, or email us at neil@neilwilliams.co.uk