Twelve minutes of nothing, then one strike

The camera sat on the balcony rail for a long time before anything happened. Down below the city kept all its lights on like nothing was coming.

The sky went purple twice and gave me nothing both times. Most of what I shot that night is a black rectangle, and that is normal. Lightning does not negotiate. There is no version of this where you get it on the first frame.

Then the cloud opened somewhere behind the building and lit its own edge from the inside. It was finished before I registered that it had started.

That is the whole job. You stand in the dark, you stay ready, and once in a while the light comes to you.