Electric Sky Photography: About

About Electric Sky
Mark Seltzer (Registered Meteorologist)

Foreword
Here you'll find the hub of my lightning and general weather photography, including links to my Youtube Channel, Facebook page and Twitter (X). All content unless otherwise stated is genuine and my own, with no AI, photoshop or stacking (stacking lightning makes for an unnatural image). This is my hobby, inspiration and legacy, and apart from a few experimental Google Ads scattered on the site, is a non-profit exercise.

Who am I?
I am a time-served registered Meteorologist and manager/team leader by profession, born and bred in the north of England, now living in the southwest. Since becoming inspired by the weather as a kid and learning more about meteorology, I was hooked on discovering what was actually happening up there in the sky. Striving to find real-world answers to often unproven science, as a teenager I started my own research campaign through the lens of a camera, which allowed me to unpick the secrets frame by frame. Lightning and thunder type, cloud type, thunderstorm behaviour, structure, all uncovered by studying stop-frame and time-lapse. Since then I have become completely addicted to the photography side of it, and revealing the processes of the atmosphere in motion.

Action shots; Didcot UK June 2023 (sides) and Oklahoma 2011 (middle)

I followed the career path of Meteorology to this day. But now in my 40's, the unfortunate side effect of having studied and forecast so much weather in that time is beauty of the "ignorant wonder" of the powerful unknown has been somewhat ruined by the fact that all I now see is the Matrix^TM code when I look up at the sky. That said, in amongst the busy lifestyle of adulthood and parenthood, I haven't stopped looking up since the skies have never ceased to show me something new. Nowadays, sky photography is my version of Fishing. My escape, just me and the sky, and in my opinion it takes much less time and is much more exciting. Fishing for something unique, natural and respectfully powerful. Something bigger than humankind that 99% of the population take for granted, yet affects us all.

Being based in the UK, where the meteorology is often somewhat muted and flat, the thunderstorm activity is rather infrequent due to our maritime climate, especially in the west. For this reason, a bit of thunder is usually an exciting event for us Brits. But although our weather is unlikely to impress many of our continental friends, I still train my cameras to bring the best (of the worst) of what we've got to offer. For example, the shot that makes the background of this page is from my own back garden in Devon, with no stacking or superimposing.

Why do I take footage of thunderstorms?
I believe one is not a true "met-head" unless their face is pressed up against a window during a thunderstorm, or measuring the depth of snow, the size of hail, or staring at weather data trying to snoop-out some extreme values. The unpredictability and ferocious beauty of a thunderstorm is highly addictive, and like with Poker, you get better at predicting the unknown the more you play the game. Storm chasers and enthusiasts alike thrive off the seemingly unpredictable power and natural apocalyptic beauty, and try and capture something truly awesome that would have otherwise been lost forever. It can also be a thrill ride - the "thrill of the chase". But there's more to it than that for me, since I also strive to study these happenings and attempt to understand the physics of what I am observing, which I then aim to share.

"Once you've seen one storm, you've seen them all.."
...as someone once said to me. How wrong that statement is. Take a look at my footage and you'll see that they are all unique. Every cloud is different, every lightning is different, every thunder is different. Every experience is different. You never quite know what you'll see next.

My content style
My style of content creation on social media is raw, sparse, truthful and informative. I avoid blind sensationalism and lame no-context click-baits (outside of eye-catching thumbnails), since I don't care about making money or likes. I instead present the raw footage as nature intended it, and highlighting interesting observations. Because for me, nature doesn't need heavy editing or sensationalising. I will always try and offer appended explanations and annotations, rather than the usual "I'll just leave this here" with no supporting information or context. Some of my timelapse or big stormchase videos have indeed been polished with music to make them more cinematic. I also don't believe in stacking or photo-shopping as it doesn't portray what actually happened.

The core of my content is thunderstorm videography, plus a mix of screengrabs and higher-resolution pictures, with a still photos section in development. I also have a section of theory and explainers I'm planning on building up in the coming years once time allows. The "Storm Log" is quite pedantic (as I was in my teens) but a nice record, and you will get the impression that up until 2007 I had plenty of time on my hands. Adult life really took over from then and my hobby took a massive backseat, but never left me completely. But with adult life comes money and opportunity, which saw my trips to the US chasing tornadoes increase (EF3/4 Wedge Storm #100 in 2015) and the technology I used also got better with time.

My photographic style
With the photography itself, I try and capture most aspects of a thunderstorm where lightning, thunder, and cloud development/structure are my favoured goals. Even if there's a tornado on the ground, you'll often find me turning away to scan the cloud structure or lightning core. I feel other chasers often forget about the wider aspects away from the main feature. Unless I'm co-chasing, I never speak on my videography to preserve the audio track of nature. I use a variety of different cameras and techniques, and professional audio recording equipment when available to study the thunder itself. A lot can be revealed about the characteristics of the lightning and environment just by listening to the thunder, like a wolf. Observing absolutely everything reveals many secrets.

What's to come?
Quite a lot, and it will be slow but steady, balancing raising two young daughters by myself and working full time. You will see the website is largely incomplete, but over time I intend to fill the gaps. My long-term plans for the website are to showcase as much of my offline content as I can as well as sharing the educational value. I also plan to construct a large section on how thunderstorms work from my professional and observational understanding, rather than carbon copying what's already written out there. I might even write a book when I retire.

Thanks for reading and taking an interest. Please feel free to follow my ventures through the eye of a camera on Youtube, Facebook or Twitter.

Mark Seltzer

My Kit

CURRENT

Sony AX53 4K Video Camera (2018-Now - for main video)
Nikon D610 Full-Frame DSLR (2015-Now - for main stills)
Samsung S21 (2022-Now - for data/social media/camera support)
Lightning Bug IR Shutter Sensor (2014-Now - for controlled automatic lightning shots)
Zoom H4N Pro Mic 140dB Hi-Def (2021-Now - for high-definition explosive thunder)
10980XE/RTX 3070 editing PC with 124dB audio card (for games :D)

OLD

Nikon Coolpix S9700 (sold 2018)
Sony HDR CX550VE HD Video Camera (2011-2018)
Canon EOS 400D + 18-55mm Zoom (sold 2015)
Canon XM2 High Def Video Camera (2006-2011)
Fuji Finepix A310 (2004-2008)
Samsung VP-H65 Hi8 Camcorder (1997-2006)

Publications
Lightning flash density in Europe based on 10 years of ATDnet data
1st May 2020 Atmospheric Research Volume 235 Article 104769

Spike in Asthma Healthcare Presentations in Eastern England during June 2021 (Thunderstorm Asthma)
24th Nov 2021 Int Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health 2021 Vol 18 Article 12353

Supporters
A big thank you to all my followers, subscribers, and supporters who encourage me to share my footage and insights. This is a non-profit personal endeavour and certainly costs me more money than I make (I currently haven't made any). My main driver for this is passion, and in hope I can inspire, document and explain some of the unknowns that people often wonder about.

Special thanks to my pal Sam Whitfield @ UK Weather Chase for supporting the promotion of my work. Go and check out their activities!