Saturday, 20 June 2015

Did You Know?


The Statue of Liberty is estimated to be hit by about 600 bolts of lightning every year.


Lady Liberty is thought to be hit by about 600 bolts of lightning every year. A New York photographer confirmed this fact by capturing an amazing image of the Statue of Liberty being struck by a lightning bolt, though it didn't come easy.
Jay Fine spent nearly two hours poised with his camera in Battery Park City in Manhattan, and took more than 80 other shots before hitting the jackpot with his striking image.
But for Fine, 58, the photo has actually been a lifetime pursuit, so much so that he was actually kind of shocked himself when he viewed the photograph.
"It was pure luck really, a once in a lifetime opportunity. It's the first photograph of its kind I have ever seen," Fine says.
The photographer said he had been watching weather reports so he knew a storm was coming and it just seemed like a great opportunity for him.
Fine says he was outside during some of the storm which had lightning but no rain and little wind but he was actually indoors when he captured the key photo of the strike on the iconic statue.
The statue is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue is an icon of freedom and of the United States, and was a welcoming sight to immigrants arriving from abroad.



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