"I was just trying to get a picture of the beautiful light," says farmer and photographer Michelle Ryan of Rylstone, who snapped this amazing photo from her farm earlier this week.
"I had no idea until later that I'd caught a rainbow and lightning at the same time," she says. "People think I photoshopped it, but I didn't".
When she put it on the NSW Storm Watch Weather Spotter's facebook site it attracted 6000 views in one day.
"I've never had anything like that happen before," she says.
Michelle and her husband have been managing the sheep and cattle property, feeding the stock through the drought. They were lucky to survive the drought, she says, considering how bad things got in the district.
But now she says you can hardly recognise the landscape after good rain during the year. The fields are green, the stock are grass fed and happy, and now that the kids have left home, Michelle has turned to a bit of photography, and instead of dirt she can see green fields and rainbows from the house.
She sells some of her photography work at the Kandos markets, does the odd local portrait work, and is completing a certificate in photography through Mudgee TAFE.
She sticks to a pretty tried formula with her Nikon D720. She shoots with a 5.6 aperture, ISO 100 and shutter speed at about 1:250. She shot the above shot with a 18-200mm lens.
She's enjoying the new pusuit. "Yes, I love it," she says.
Meantime, storms were still brewing in northern NSW at the end of the week with Coonamble recording a gust at over 110km/h on Thursday as 20mm fell in a storm. The drought-hit area of Tenterfield also had a few storms, with 20mm falling east of the town.
Narrabri had 39mm in a storm and Moree had 34mm, Warialda 38mm, Barraba 34mm and Pindari Dam a whopping 48mm yesterday.
The heatwave is over for know, and the Bureau of Meteorology is predicting calmer weather for next week after a hot and stormy weekend, with up to 15mm predicted for Dubbo on Saturday. Many are wondering when the wetter La Nina period will finally kick in.
- Michelle can be contacted by facebook, instagram or email michelle_ryan4@hotmail. com for photography inquiries.
John Ellicott
journalist and author
journalist and author
