Sturm und Drang, signifying everything.

Monday morning saw the arrival of our first rain in weeks. The weather has been glorious, so mother nature decided the area needed a major storm to shake things up.



Rather than just drop some light rain on the city, the weather decided to summon a thunderstorm the likes of which few are privileged enough to encounter. Being the photographer I am, I dusted off my tripod and headed out to get some lighting shots. These are difficult to get, for the obvious reason that you just never know where those jagged little guys will strike.



Luckily, the storm was of such violence and intensity, that I got a few pretty good shots before I headed back inside. As the evening turned into the morning, the storm grew closer to Kanazawa proper, and started hitting us pretty hard, heavy rain and tons of very, very close lightning and thunder. The moron in me decided this was a good time to go out and get some more pictures from my open to the elements front porch...



This one was pretty close.



A much more comfortable distance!



OH MY GOD.

This last one was so close, and so loud, that I picked up my tripod and made great haste for the 'safety' of my apartment. Once I got inside I remembered to breathe, and found myself shaking and on the verge of tears. I've had close encounters with lightning before, one would think I had learned my lesson. I think this one may have actually struck the building, or indeed very close by, as something knocked out my internet for the next two days, which explains why I'm late in posting these photots!