Yeah! THAT Storm, at THAT Dance!

Yeah, THAT storm!

At THAT gym, at that school dance, down there in THAT Gym!

Yeah, at GFMS! You know, Granite Falls Middle School, back in the day!

And yes, I'm going with 25 Apr 09, because yeah, that's what the DATA tells me, and no, I've got nothing better, so yeah, that works for me!

Sounds possible! And believable,

I was teaching back then, but yeah, I just knew it was a LONG time ago! And yes, we had a LOT of dances in the gym over the years!

And maybe even a storm once or twice ... Maybe, I can't remember any right off hand, anyways!

But yeah, what a storm THIS one was! Unreal.

And of course I had my water-poof, "do everything", camera that I have used for YEARS! Or, you know, one of the different models Nikon came out with over the years, but yeah, you know, an older model of the Nikon waterproof cameras that I have used for YEARS!

Yeah, maybe the Nikon AW-120 model (or the AW-100, or the AW-110) that I shot with back then. Yeah, I shoot with the newer, Nikon AW-300 model right now.

Again, for YEARS!

I just love these cameras! What? I believe this is my sixth, or seventh version that I've owned! Or, you know, something like that!

And yes!

To be honest, it started back in the old FILM days, first with Canon, and then Minolta, I believe it was ... Yeah, i bought one in the PX over there in Bremerhaven, Germany, I believe it was!

And then here a couple of years ago, yeah,they STOPPED making them! So I went out and bought TWO of the newest Pentax version of that same type of "underwater/action" camera, you know, just in case!

And even an Olympus TG-7 version of that same type of "action camera"!

Really.

I ALWAYS had a small, "action" camera with me on every trip I have ever taken, you know, over the years! But I digress ...

Sort of.

But anyways, where was I?

Oh yeah!

Standing at the middle school gym's door, at one of the MANY dances I went to over the years, and yeah! Quite the storm was raggin', so yeah, I went to my car, got my camera, or maybe I already had one with me, it was a DANCE afterall, but yeah, whatever, all I know is, there I was, with a camera in my hand, ready for anything! In fact, I can even remember standing there with Mason Hughes, who yeah, was the son of the "REAL" Special Ed. teacher at our school, yeah, Nicole Hughes! Trust me, without her there, I never would have made it, you know, with ALL THAT PAPERWORK stuff!

I went to college for SOCIAL STUDIES, and yeah, that was TEN YEARS before I ever got to Caldwell County, and GFMS! I was a photographer, that worked for The Department of the Army (as a civilian!) over in Germany, before ever arriving here, so yeah, I never even heard of an I.E.D., or whatever they were called! But yeah, "Individual Education Plan" sounds about right!

I got hired in 1993 at SCHS for one year. Then, on to Granite Falls Middle School, which, luckily for me, was the same year another (real) Special Ed. teacher started teaching there as well!

Me from the High School, and Nicole Hughes from an Elementary school, can't remember which one!

Both second year teachers! But yeah, I was "just a little" (14years!) older!

Yeah, she "kind of helped me" (Saved my butt!) when it came to all the "Other Stuff" Special Ed. teachers had/have to do beside, you know, actually "TEACHING" the kids ...

I was very LUCKY.

But I did go to Graduate School, in Chicago, for Photography, while my former wife was stationed in the Army, north of the city, at "old" Fort Sheridan (it is now a fancy civilian "village', like, right on Lake Michigan. Loved living there)! Yeah, I took the train down into the city the days I had classes ... With one of my old, smaller, "rangefinder" cameras that gave me something to do while we rolled on along the tracks!

Like I said, RIGHT DOWNTOWN, right on Michigan Ave. you know, at COLUMBIA COLLEGE!

Don't worry, I never heard of it either!

It was, and still is, a real "ART SCHOOL," that took time for me to get used to, that was for sure!

My first choice would have been more of a Photojournalism College ... But yeah, that didn't happen.

But anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, back at GFMS ... LIKE, years later ...

And there I was, standing out there, away from the gym, out in the rain, with my small, waterproof camera, and, BAM! The lighting struck the water tower, I "jerked", and yes, I got my picture!

Well ... Sort of, that is!

My TIMING (jerk reaction!) was right on, but yeah, the camera had a tough time with the EXPOSURE, as any camera would have!

Like BIG TIME!

Talk about MINUS, MINUS, MINUS, oh yeah, I wasn't even close!

But then again, I was, like what? Thirty, to fifty (LONG) yards away from that tower? Seventy? I don't know, but yeah, I'm HERE, so yeah, far enough away, and let's just leave it at that!

And yeah! See how that LIGHTING BOLT "bounced off" that tower, towards us! Yeah, like I said, it was REAL CLOSE!

Mason and I just looked at each other, and got the heck out of there!

Fast!

BAM!

What a moment, that was for sure!

But yeah, after a little time with my Adobe PhotoShop ELEMENTS (the "JUNIOR" version of PhotoShop) that I love so much, yeah!

Like I said, "I got my LIGHTING SHOT"!

Love it.

Used to have a copy of it hanging in the school's front office, oh! And one downtown in the Granite Falls Town Hall, or whatever it is called ... Town Office?

Yeah, our secretary, knew their secretary ... Something like that!

You know, right downtown, in good 'ol Granite Falls, North Carolina!

Yeah, that was FUN!

That said, yes, best dance I ever attended, like EVER!

Now, yeah, so you make sure you have a camera in your hand, and GET OUT THERE!

You never know.

Just saying!

I still can't believe it.

But yeah, I do remember "down playing" who it was that was out there with me at that second! His mother was just inside the gym, you know, at the dance, doing what we were both supposed to be doing!

You know, actually, "working the dance"!

Some things are best left UNSAID, or "downplayed" quite a bit!

Sounded like a plan to me! Hey! It was never brought up, what can I say?

But yeah, what a DANCE!

Gotta love MIDDLE SCHOOL!

I know I did!

Well, teaching it anyways!

No, I never actually went to a "Middle School" up there in Pulaski, New York, back in the mid-to late 1960s ... No, we had a K-12 school right up to when I went to the new "High School" my freshman year!

Well, even then, now that I think about it, yeah, that was actually a 7-12 school, whatever you want to call that!

That's why I LOVED teaching in a "real" MIDDLE SCHOOL!

I didn't even know they ever existed!

LOVED IT!

Oh! And those LIGHTING STORMS! With that old, watertower out back!

Which reminds me, have you ever seen my "other lighting" shot? You know, that I took while floating down a river, in a raft, one lazy, summer afternoon, while out West, in a raft, on a river?

Yeah, that was pretty WILD too!

Really.

Not as close, but yeah! LIGHTING! Out in the open ...

I checked, it's not in my folder, I'll have to see if I can find it! I know I've seen it around here somewhere, and yeah, recently, or, you know, somewhat recently, if there is such a thing!

I'll see.

YOU just get out there, and see what YOU can come up with!

Just be careful, you know, if a LIGHTING STORMS blows in your way!

Oh, which reminds me, did you know the town of Granite Falls REMOVED that tower a few years later? Yeah, those lighting bolts played havoc with all the computers in the school ...

Who knew?

Have fun!

I know I have.

Good luck with that, too!