2008 HS Photo Contest Pictures

2008 AAPT High School Physics Photo Contest
Winner's Showcase

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Honorable Mention - Natural

Title: Storm on the Shore
Student: Kevin Shaughnessy
School: The Gunnery, Washington, CT
Teacher: Mr. Bailey

I took this photo while I was at camp this summer in Florida. We were all out on the water one night while there was a thunderstorm back on shore. The large flash of light in the sky and the three lighting bolts are a result from static electricity within the clouds and lit up the night sky. To take this shot, my camera’s setting was on a shutter rate of about 5 seconds, which is why there are candy-cane shaped lights throughout the shoreline. Since the boat was floating on the water, it moved up and down in correspondence to the wave cycle. So during the 5 seconds that the shutter was open, the boat went from the bottom on the candy-cane, to the peak where it was on top of the wave, and then started to sink back down again. So from my point of view on the boat, that is how the shore line looked during the 5 seconds as the boat oscillated up and down in the water.