This must have been one of the most special photography excurions I had been on, ever. It started with us driving to Stanly Park to park our car, since we knew Sunset Beach would be a no-go for finding parking since everyone would be at the Celebration of Light show where South Africa showed their best work.

Once there, we had to walk about 4km to Sunset Beach to claim our spot. This was 17:00. It started out to be an awesome evening, but after an hour it started dripping on / off. Determined to see this through (the show only started at 22:00), and with no real protection from the rain we waited it out. My wife and I were soaked already at 18:00. Fortunately my daughter hid away in her rain coat.

Then it started - thunder and lighting, quite unusual for Vancouver. The lightning danced around us whilst the west got more and more orange. At some point all realism was lost. Here is what I mean - with rain pouring down on me I took this photo:

Just when I thought it could not get better, a couple of minutes later the lightning moved around to directly opposite English Bay:

So waiting a couple more hours and the magical fireworks started: