Unexpected Photographic Joy

They say sometimes the best photographs taken are ones that present themselves when you least expect them. The top image is an example of that. When a spotter report from near Geneva, Iowa (about 40 miles NW of Waterloo) reported a "thin tornado on the ground" just after 7:00 PM CDT on Sunday, July 6, 2014, I jumped into my car and headed to areas near Marion, Iowa to spot the expected arrival of severe weather. Although I captured many satisfying photographs of distant storm cells during the spotting session, the tornado and severe warned cells suddenly evaporated "on the porch" of the Cedar Rapids area. Just before 9:30 PM I gave it up and headed for home. A little over a mile from my destination I was suddenly amazed at the sight seen in the top image: a billowing cumulonimbus cloud laced with lightning and brushed with color from the setting sun. I quickly hopped out of my car and to an advantageous location in an attempt to capture its beauty. The location was on Oliver Court in the new Bowman Meadows housing development along Boyson Road in Marion, just west of Alburnett Road. The top image--looking west--was taken at 9:35 PM. It is a nine-second exposure at f/14, 200 ISO and 29mm focal length. The storm cell was located about 20 miles distant in east central Benton County. The bottom image shows a little closer look at the same structure about a quarter-mile west in the same housing development. My best image of the day came after I had ended my photography session!