Marc Laidlaw of Redmond was out taking photographs of last Thursday night's thunderstorm from just behind his sliding glass door on the back of his Eastside home. He got about three great lighting shots, but the fourth one might have been more than he bargained for.

He snapped his camera just as lightning struck a tree in his backyard, capturing nature's awesome power.

He says he didn't know he had captured the shot, saying the strike was so terrifying, he just turn and ran. It wasn't until he went back and looked at his shots that he realized what he had, first thinking he had a daylight photo mixed in there.

You can see a larger version of this photo at this link.

The strike fried some wires in his house, and part of the house is still without power.

This second shot shows the mark the strike left on the tree.

Amazing...