Camper quick as lightning with snap

Photographer Steve Ward captured a once-in-a-lifetime shot from Bluff Knoll last week.

The spectacular shot of low-lying cloud appearing like the sea and forked lightning in the distance was caught by chance.

Mr Ward and his son-in-law Benjamin Bartley were com-pleted the gruelling ridge walk along the eastern section of the Stirling Range last Friday.

He said after the arduous trek, the pair decided to spend the night camping on the ridge.

“We rested on top for a few hours thinking we could head off soon; the low clouds came in though, so decided it might be too risky to keep going as we could get lost,” he said. “Overnight, the wind came in and it got quite cold. At 4am, we heard thunder so got up ... This was one of the shots from then.

“Another storm cloud started to get a bit close with lightning so we decided to go back down — we were rained on with a bit of hail as well.”