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The Hand of Zeus
5,449 MEGAPIXEL VAST PHOTO
New York City
At 5:11pm on July 25, 2016, New York City witnessed one of the most impressive lightning strikes ever photographed. An enormous bolt rocked Downtown Manhattan and Jersey City, completely spanning the Hudson River - and I had my camera set up to capture it.
It was a sweltering day at the height of summer and a thunderstorm was quickly approaching from the west, spreading an oil-slick of darkness in front of it. I've photographed countless storms, but as this particular one roared in from a distance, I knew it was going to be special. A beautiful wall cloud was quickly advancing in front of the rain curtain, electrifying the sky with cloud-to-ground lightning.
Brimming with excitement, I perched myself high up on a building in downtown Manhattan. The air, still thick with the smell of a sunny summer afternoon, was eerily calm as I set up my gear and began exposing images, hoping to capture one of these strikes branching out in front of the rain. Being exposed and elevated hundreds of feet outside with my camera wasn't the safest idea, but it was a risk I was willing to take.
Suddenly, an enormous bolt pierced the sky with a sound so deafening that my ears were ringing despite the hearing protection I had on. An incredible number of stepped leaders raced toward the ground, one of them connecting with a large metasequoia tree in Battery Park City, instantly exploding all 80 feet of it into thousands of pieces. Another one of the leaders crossed to the New Jersey side of the river and connected with a luxury high-rise not too dissimilar to the one that I was on.
For an instant, New York and New Jersey were joined by one of the most powerful forces in nature. It was a beautiful and humbling moment of sheer power.
I’ve spent over a decade chasing thunderstorms, exposing tens of thousands of images along the way, and coming closer than I’d like to being struck more times than I’d like to admit. Almost always, these occasions fail to yield any photographs worthy enough to show for the effort. The public is never privy to these empty harvests and the toll they take. However, as an obsessive photographer, I've continued to head out into storms time after time, undeterred, all in the hope of eventually having the good fortune to be granted an awe-inspiring moment like this.
You may be wondering how I created this exceptionally high resolution VAST photo. I spent hundreds of hours over the course of a year meticulously transforming the original 40-megapixel single-exposure photo into this 5,449-megapixel VAST photo that identically mimics the original.
| Date & Time | July 25, 2016: 5:11pm |
| Location | New York City |
| Coordinates | 40.719276, -74.012121 |
| Focal Length | 300mm |
| Aperture | f/22 |
| Shutter | 10 sec |
| ISO | 100 |
| Num of Exposures | 111 |
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Its resolution is 25,850% greater than a typical photo. Click on the boxes below to zoom in.
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Canvas print
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Produced using a specialty, large-format fine art printer operating at 300ppi resolution—the gold standard for sharpness
Printed onto heavyweight, 100% acid-free fine art canvas to preserve color-accuracy and longevity
Created using materials and methods that exceed the rigorous technical standards required to achieve the prized "giclée" industry rating
Designed to meet the most demanding standards for color-permanence set by leading museums
Handmade by award-winning master printmakers with over 4 decades of experience
Optionally accompanied by your choice of elegant floater frame available in a variety of trims
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A VAST Print™ represents the pinnacle of the photographic medium. Each print is a true photograph created specifically for you using light-sensitive paper exposed in a darkroom with the industry's highest precision exposure technique. Your print is then sealed with a shine-enhancing protective glossy coating*, adhered to a sturdy aluminum composite backing, and finished in one of two ready-to-hang formats:
- Frameless floating display: A hidden mounting brace on the rear gracefully "floats" the print off the wall for a sleek, modern look.
- Framed display: The print is mounted inside one of our handcrafted 100% wood frames with a decorative separation between the print and the frame so that the print appears to be floating within the frame, providing depth and elegance to the finished photo.
*Note: a non-glossy, satin matte coating is alternatively available on request.
with artist signature
affixed to the back
Mounting brace floats the display
off the wall by 3/4 inch
protective coating
Laser-exposed at a truly unprecedented 610ppi resolution
Created using fine art paper with a specialty emulsion enabling unsurpassed micro-contrast, ultra-bright whites, and deep blacks
Printed with a chromogenic process that produces "continuous tones" of silky smooth color (other printers use noticeable dots of ink)
Sealed between an extra-thick, shine-enhancing protective coating and a sturdy aluminum composite backing for a sleek look
Award-winning product quality recognized industry-wide
Designed to meet the most demanding standards for color-permanence set by leading museums
Handmade by certified master printmakers with over 4 decades of experience
Hand-signed by the artist and accompanied by our digitally-enhanced, holographic certificate of authenticity
Optionally accompanied by your choice of elegant floater frame available in a variety of trims
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| Width | 89,889 px |
| Height | 60,617 px |
| Aspect Ratio | 1.48 : 1 |
| Date & Time | July 25, 2016: 5:11pm |
| Location | New York City |
| Coordinates | 40.719276, -74.012121 |
| Focal Length | 300mm |
| Aperture | f/22 |
| Shutter | 10 sec |
| ISO | 100 |
| Num of Exposures | 111 |
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