Image of lightning strikes gets over 39,000 Facebook likes
The brewing thunderstorm would have made most people take shelter, but not Mr Darren Soh.
When he spotted the lighting from afar on Sunday, the full-time photographer whipped out his mobile phone and consulted a weather app - which forecast a thunderstorm rolling in from Malaysia.
That was enough to get the 40-year-old going with his tripod and camera to an HDB block near his home in Sembawang as it offered an unblocked view of the Johor Strait.
He told The New Paper yesterday: "I wanted to capture it because the lightning can be very beautiful. Many people think that it can be very beautiful too. It is also very much part of our climate, and I want to document everything Singaporean, landscape wise."
Singapore is the lightning capital of the world, with an average of 168 thunderstorm days a year.
According to the National Environmental Agency, Singapore's proximity to the equator is ideal for the formation of thunderstorms, which are usually accompanied by lightning.Mr Soh snapped the first photo from a vantage point in a stairwell at 8.35pm, and took about 100 photos until just before 9.30pm.
The veteran photographer then used Photoshop to make a breathtaking composite of 12 photos, showing numerous streaks of lightning within a duration of 50 minutes.
The photo has had quite an impact online.
"Within half an hour, there were about a thousand likes," said Mr Soh, the recipient of numerous photography awards.
As of 11pm last night, there were more than 36,000 likes and more than 10,000 shares.
As of this afternoon, it had garnered over 39,500.
"I vote this Singapore Picture Of The Year 2016," one Facebook user, Terence Tan, wrote.
"We do not have many places left in Singapore where one could capture Mother Nature at work. This is really awesome! Great job Darren," another Facebook user, Christine Jill Choo, commented.
Mr Soh may not be unfamiliar to netizens. In 2008, he was awarded Overall Best Design in the 24th Annual PDN/Nikon Self-Promo awards.
FAMILIAR
As part of the founding team of Platform.sg, he also published a photo book, For My Son, for the TwentyFifteen.sg series for SG50 last year.
He was also one of the judges of the Big Picture contest, a photography contest held from 2011 to 2015. It was organised by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and The New Paper, to celebrate local photography.
"Chance plays a large factor," said Mr Soh, when asked about snapping perfectly timed photos of lightning in the sky.
Despite the frequent occurrence of lightning in Singapore, Mr Soh said he had not been able to take such photos before as he was in the "wrong place" or had "something else to do".
When asked if he would attempt to take similar photos again, Mr Soh said: "When the chance arises."
He added that he would "choose somewhere else with a more Singaporean context".
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