Western Australia, 2010 / 2011.
A week-ish long 4WDing trip along the Holland Track (a beautiful drive close to home then) culminating in the Goldfields of Western Australia.
At this point, I was watching a storm rage over Lake Johnston, a massive salt lake, near the town of Norseman. The lightning shot — handheld, since I didn’t own a tripod — was an accident. The air was so electric that night, it was inevitable I’d catch one if I kept shooting.
I remember this evening vividly. The wind howling along the dry lake bed. Then stinging needles of horizontal rain, lashing the canvas of the tent so violently you’d swear it was going to tear.
Afterwards, when the storm cleared, the clean smell of wet gum leaves and crunch of muddy gravel under my boots, a memory of this wayfarer the wind would wipe clean in short order.
Nothing is ordinary.
charlene winfred 