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Weather photographers Susan Strom and Cathy Franklin reprise a stunning exhibit of storm photography.

By University Communications
January 30, 2008

Couldn’t get a second mortgage to buy Super Bowl tickets this weekend? One option might be to forget about chaos on the gridiron, and instead check out chaos in the summer skies.

The Boyce Thompson Arboretum has an electrically charged photo exhibit, “High Voltage,” with a reception for the artists this Sunday.

It’s actually a return visit by two veteran weather photographers, Susan Strom and Cathy Franklin, who spend their summers chasing storms and capturing lightning on film. Strom and Franklin brought their photos to the arboretum two years ago.

Strom said she prefers to shoot around the Mogollon Rim.

"What drives me to chase is the rare lightning shot that takes me multiple attempts, sometimes even years and a thousand miles to achieve,” she said. “With this type of photojournalism, persistence eventually wins out."

Oklahoma native Cathy Franklin is on the faculty at Collins College in Tempe, Ariz., and posts her photos on her Web site, electricskies.com.

"I guess you could call me a Desert Sooner," she said.

Franklin recalls standing in the driveway as a child with her father counting funnel clouds. "The sirens always sent chills down my spine. We were the only ones on our street who had a basement, so during a thunderstorm, we would have the whole neighborhood over with everyone swapping scary storm stories.”

Both photographers will meet the public at their gallery opening reception on Sunday from 10 a.m. until noon. Their work is currently on exhibit and will remain through Feb. 29. The Visitor Center gallery at the arboretum is open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (summer hours are 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., from May through August).

Boyce Thompson Arboretum is located on Highway 60 at Milepost 223, just three miles west of the town of Superior – about an hour drive east of Phoenix or two hours north from Tucson via Oracle Road to Highway 79 past Florence to Highway 60.