Virginia Beach Photography - VaBeachPhotography.com » Weather

Hurricane Irene Virginia Beach, Virginia

William Coyle — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 03:56:52 +0000

We were lucky in the Hampton Roads area, hurricane Irene could have been far worse then it was. After my chase with the storm hurricane Isabel was much more destructive to our area and a large swath of the East Coast. Most of the time I like to be at land fall during a hurricane but since the eyewalls path was ploted over the area I live in, I made the choice to stay local and look over my family and property. I have posted a video that shows what I saw in my travels in Virginia Beach and Sandbridge area that took a big hit from a waterspout that came ashore and damged about five to six houses which is shown at the end of the video. It also has an interview with the man that lost his house from the damaging tornado/waterspout. I can tell you I will be cleaning sand out of my ears for a week or longer and if you stayed inside,, here is some footage of what you missed.

Lightning Virginia Beach Town Center July 23, 2011

William Coyle — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:10:42 +0000

I love a good storm, my love for photography started out with shooting photos of lightning. Last year and for the most part of this year have not yielded any good weather photos. I was very happy to walk away with some keepers last night and a photo which shows two step leaders coming off the top of The Westin which appears to be at least 100 feet high and a smaller one coming off the second largest building which is smaller but still visible. This is very rare to catch on camera. Here are a few lightning strikes from last nights storms in Virginia Beach…

Moon Halo

William Coyle — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:48:52 +0000

On December 1 ,2009, the moon was not its usual self. The moon came with an extra bonus and one that was very beautiful call a Moon Halo. Now I have seen these halos before but on this night it was very defined and even had color on the outer portion of the halo. A moon halo is a ring of light surrounding the moon. The halo is caused by light from the moon passing through ice crystals in high thin clouds. Usually, the light is reflected rather than scattered, which causes the ring to appear white. Sometimes, the light shining through the ice crystals is scattered and the rings are then colored. Often there is a bright white area immediately surrounding the moon that is edged with a colored ring. At other times, there is another larger ring outside of the first one and this one had a very faint one if you look closely.

Stars And Strikes

William Coyle — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:36:35 +0000

There is nothing more I would rather do then sit and watch storms go up over the Chesapeake Bay and a nice blanket of stars as the backdrop. As I talked about on my last post storm season has been slow but Wednesday night provided storms that reported having waterspouts and micro burst that sent a tractor trailer crashing into the rails and almost over the side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel near the second island. The first photo shows a lightning strike close to the tunnel and a microburst of wind and rain to the right side of the photo. No more then 5 mins after this shot was taken fire trucks and rescue squads were racing to the second island where the accident took place. I am pretty sure the downburst of rain and wind caught the driver off guard as these situations happen without warning sometimes. I hope for more opportunities at this location before the season ends. I hope everyone enjoys the 4th with family and friends and please be safe out there.

Virginia Beach Surfers And Large Waves

William Coyle — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 22:36:23 +0000

What better way to spend the afternoon on a sunny day but to take the camera out to the oceanfront and take a couple snapshots of surfers taking advantage of some large swells coming in from the tropical activity of recent. I was in luck because of a past cancelation on an event from the ECSC which was taking place at the time. Here are a few dudes kicking it up on some sweet waves.

Surfing Photography

William Coyle — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:34:46 +0000

We are in a great time span for surfing photography and with the latest in tropical waves and hurricanes this is a great time for those wow shots I really enjoy. I wants to offer a two hour session to the first surfer who wants to get some crazy shots. All you have to do is contact me so we can set up a time and date as well as a location. Tropical storm Hanna is rolling in as well as Hurricane Ike which is giving double wave action up the East coast. I would like someone who can stay on the board and has some experience so the outcome is good on the camera as well. I look forward to hearing from you surfers and bodyboarders very soon. Hang Tight…

Busy August Ahead, Summer Storms Continue.

William Coyle — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:27:23 +0000

Just a short post this time as I am busy working on unfinished products because of being sick last week. I have a busy August ahead and this is great news to me. With every engagement or wedding I do I become more bold in trying different things on location as well as in the digital dark room and this is a good thing. Also I wanted to pass a few photos on from this weeks storms. The first was from last night with lightning coming out the side of the tower in clear blue skies with one of the planets to the top left and the others were from a week ago south of Pungo.

Summer Time Lightning Virginia Beach

William Coyle — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 03:33:12 +0000

Sometimes waiting around after you think storms have moved on or dyed pays off every so often as they did tonight. Tonight’s storms were scattered and went up fast and collapsed just as quick. This shot took place from a fresh and newly developed storm right over Virginia Beach. The storm was so fresh that it had not even reached a mature stage for lightning but had very heavy rain. The very first bolt to leap out of the top of the storm was from the photo below which was a pretty powerful lightning strike. The storm moved to the East and most of the lightning from the rest of the storm was in the heavy rain core and not visible. Also another note with concern to lightning and cameras is I have noticed a difference in photo quality between the Nikon D200 and the Nikon D300. I still have not locked on if it is just atmospheric conditions or if lightning has different effect on a camera with a CCD or a Cmos sensor. I will tell you that it seems like the Nikon D300 is a lot more sensitive to lightning strike like the one below then the D200 was. I will have to take some more shots before I can give a final answer to the question.

Take A Look Up Sometimes

William Coyle — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 03:18:17 +0000

I make a habit to look up at the sky whenever I get time and sometimes I see amazing things that most people will miss just because they don’t take the time to look up and admire the beauty that nature has to offer above our heads. Besides weddings and portraits I love what the skies have to offer which could be lightning, sunsets,shooting star or even a rare event of aurora. Somethings are burned in your mind forever like the very first time I saw the Northern Lights in Virginia. I remember the date of November 8, 2004 like it was yesterday as I was watching the data from a solar flare that left the sun two days before the big event. All the info and reports concluded that the lights were visible even further south then Virginia. I drove out to Back Bay past the North Carolina border to a spot that I have used for taking pictures of the stars or for meteor shower events which takes about thirty minute to get to from my location. During the drive I would look to the North and be somewhat disappointed to not see any glimpse of color in the sky. I pulled up to the location, turned the headlights off in the car and stepped out to a jaw dropping display of one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. This was the first time I have witness the Northern Lights and everything I have read about them took place right in front of my eyes. The colors of orange, yellow, green, and even some blues and purple moved across the black velvet starry sky. I stood there looking and lost my train of thought forgetting that I need to set up the camera to record this event. I took photos for about an hour before the lights started to draw back to the North. I came home to edit the photos sending one to the Virginia Pilot newspaper which was used in a large article on the front page. The response from the photo was overwhelming and I received so many orders for the photo. I remember one that I sold where a couple had a grandfather who died two minutes before the photo was taken. The eleven year solar cycle is on the upward spiral so I look forward to new sun spots and maybe another chance at this type of photography.

The Westin And Virginia Beach Town Center With Lightning

William Coyle — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:45:01 +0000

Another round of storms more toward the South kept us out of the heavy rain but not the lightning. This shot was taken last night around 9:30 p.m. in front of the Virginia Beach Town Center.. Sometimes as storms weaken they will produce great anvil crawlers that can stretch for many miles outward from the main part of the storm as these did. The main part of the storms were located in Elizabeth City and further south and west but the lightning in the top of the storm would travel along the blown off tops of the storm call the Anvil. The Anvil has light rain and takes time to build a charge up in the high base of the clouds but when it releases it’s energy some of the most spectacular lightning can happen.