Guys. This session. This family session at Saltair is one I will never forget. It was a gorgeous day, and was the 3rd time we had rescheduled due to extreme rain (thanks utah unpredictable weather and unreliable forecasts!). As you can see in the photos, the sky was stunning, nobody was too cold, and every person in their family looked stunning.
The session was going great! We were getting posed photos, candid more “lifestyle” photos, and capturing the landscape behind them. We both felt so lucky the day had worked in our favor.
We had some normal “mishaps” (if you can call them that), like the toddler being hyper and running around— all to be expected! Baby getting hungry and sad and needing a bottle— it happens! Babies and kids will never act the way you want them to for photos, that’s just the universe saying hey. But then at the end of the session, a huge mishap occurred that was 100% out of our control.
Right at the end of our session, a microburst storm swept in, with strong thunder, lightning, wind, and rain. It was unlike any storm I’ve been in, probably because of all the open space and water from the saltair lake. It literally hit as we were walking back to our cars to head home. Lighting so bright it lit up the whole sky for a few seconds. Thunder so strong we could feel it with our feet. We said goodbye and I drove off after chatting with my friend and client.
As I’m driving away, I hear a huge thunder boom and see epic lightning and suddenly thought something had crashed into me. I stopped and no one was in back of me and I wasn’t near anything I could’ve crashed into. I’m thinking, this doesn’t feel right, something is wrong. A car honks at me as I’m sitting there and I tell them to go around. I continue driving toward the freeway and notice my car is shaking and I’m feeling way too much air. I stop again on the side of the freeway entrance, I look to the back windshield and realize.. it’s not there. My car is still shaking and now I’m shaking too. I felt so vulnerable in the storm, it felt like a hurricane or something utah would never have, i had no idea what to do. I try to get out of my car to look at it and I’m being blown away by the combination of wind and rain. My back windshield had shattered everywhere into tiny pieces from the thunder boom. I had expensive gear and had to move everything to the front, but I was so scared out of my car, I felt like I could be swept up and carried to the next city over, it was incredibly strong.
Gorgeous Saltair with blue skies, before the storm
I tried calling my husband— service was suddenly unavailable. I tried 3 times and nothing. I called my friend/client and luckily it went through to her! I told her my back windshield had shattered and I didn’t know what to do. I felt like crying but I didn’t let my fear show, I’m not sure why, I just remember I wasn’t crying or shaking with my clients, but when I finally reached my husband I started sobbing.
My client drove up behind me and needed to stay with her kids in the car but her husband helped me. He doesn’t speak much English and I don’t speak much Spanish, but we managed to work together to figure out a plan. They drove in back of me through the storm and until they knew I had exited the freeway safely. The poor visibility/bad hurricane-like storm lasted 20 or so minutes, and then the rest of the way was stormy, but manageable. My clients and I made sure each of us made it home safely. I am so grateful for them, I have never felt so vulnerable and scared going home from a session, but they helped me get through it. If I hadn’t reached out to them I would’ve been in panic mode all alone, unable to reach anyone, and thought I would be sleeping in my car in the middle of nowhere until I had service.
I had a lot of fun joking with my husband about my windshield the next day. Excuse my (or rather, my CAR’S) inappropriate texts, LOL, there was too much to joke around about, and when I’m traumatized I need HUMOR.
Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take pictures right when everything was occurring. I just wanted to get out of there. So any pictures I have are after most of the glass had been cleaned up. But here is some aftermath:
And there you have an eventful night that produced some beautiful photos for my client (and dear friend) and her family. I’d like to dedicate this post to Utah’s weather prediction system. You’re always there for us ;)
I’d love to hear other people’s crazy weather stories! Especially at or on their way to/from a photo session or some other event.
Til next time,
Jules
Did you know this is what could happen in a thunder boom? I had never thought of the possibility.