Capturing Lighting in a Bottle

“Sunflowers Under Storm Clouds”, Aiken, SC July 2026

Hello Friend,

When people are really excited about some creation or another, it is often described as “capturing lighting in a bottle.” Yes, the public gets excited about the lightning, but they often forget about the bottle. And all the bottles that didn’t work before. Or all the storms that were ventured out into, only to get all wet and capture no lightning. Or the lightning that broke some bottles. And all the notes taken to find out which combination of storm, bottle and lightning produced the most promising results. Then that time the notes were lost or ripped up in frustration with all the failures. Only to have to start over again. The remembering of work done hours, days, weeks or years earlier. Until…

It’s that consistent and relentless pursuit of creating that will at some point, hopefully, maybe, finally produce something that stands up and says, “Look at my lightning! Look at my bottle!” And then … And then … it’s on to the next set of storms and lightning and bottles and notes.

“Beginning I” Aiken, SC July 2026

It seems like most years one thing grabs me, and I find myself photographing it a lot. This year it is sunflowers. My wife bought a little sunflower plant in June, and I created some images on a few mornings and evenings. And I discovered a field of sunflowers right across the street from my office. Again, a few mornings and evenings I stopped by to see what I could find.

Sunflowers are one of those plants that work well in color and black and white. I switched back and forth while photographing, though showing off just the B/W here. I don’t think I captured any lightning in a bottle with these, but when the idea of the words above came to me one evening, that field of sunflowers was often in my mind. Enjoy and keep creating what you do.

Patrick Krohn

August 2026