As the storm raged on Thursday evening, Pat Lindley from Queanbeyan took off in his car determined to capture the moment - and that is exactly what he brilliantly did.

How did he do it?

Actually, it was moments, not a single moment.

The picture is a combination of three shots taken within five minutes of each other at Widgiewa Road in Carwoola, about 20 kilometres south-east of Canberra.

Pat heard and saw the storm in Queanbeyan and thought it would make good pictures so he got in his car and headed out from the city.

In the darker light of the Bush, he set up a tripod on the deck of his parents' house.

He then kept the shutter open for from 10 to 40 seconds each time as the thunder and lighting crashed and rasped over the landscape. Apart from the combining of the three images in one, there was no other manipulation.

He had thought of using a gizmo which first detects lightning and then takes the picture virtually instantaneously but thought the long exposure would be better.

Patrick describes himself as an amateur/semi-professional who has been taking pictures for about five years.

And the camera?

It was a Canon EOS R, a state of the art digital camera.

But as any photographer will tell you, it's the human eye and imagination which creates the picture, not the technology.