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A Story Of Belief, Perseverance, And The Best Looking Aussie Clouds We've Ever Seen

Storm, consider yourself successfully chased.
It's like the sky just became a beautiful flower.
Reelfish Media
It's like the sky just became a beautiful flower.

"It puts a little fuel in my ute."

That's the secondary motivation of part-time landscape photographer Nick Johannsen, who took this incredible photo at Boroka Lookout in Victoria's Grampians on the weekend.

His primary motivation for stormchasing and capturing incredible shots like the ones in this story?

"It's what I'm passionate about. I love to capture the natural beauty of nature. This was definitely the best storm I've seen in Victoria."

Reelfish Media

Johannsen, 33, lives and grew up in Horsham, in western Victoria's Wimmera district, about half an hour north of The Grampians. He works in a local laundry. On weekends, when many locals are watching football, Johannsen seeks wider horizons.

These images were taken at about 5pm on Saturday afternoon, as the cold front which on Sunday would bring autumn snow to the Victorian Alps swept through the Wimmera. Johanssen had been closely watching the incoming weather system and knew where he had to go.

"Everything told me that Boroka Lookout in The Grampians was where I needed to be," he said.

Reelfish Media

Johannsen used a Canon 6D camera with a 17-40mm lens to capture these images which coincidentally, were shot in the same mountain range where much-loved satirist John Clarke died on the weekend.

But above all, he used patience.

"I got up to The Grampians about midday and bounced between two lookouts back and forwards keeping an eye on it. The phone service is pretty bad up there so you've really got to rely on your eyes."

"It's all about timing. My motto is 'Imagine. Plan. Shoot'."

And that's exactly what happened. Johannsen imagined there would be some amazing cloud formations as the storm front rolled through, and he was right. It took five hours but he got his shots. And after a lifetime of chasing the perfect storm, you've got to be happy for him.

Reelfish Media

"I grew up watching storms on front verandah of my house in Horsham. Sometimes we used to grab deckchairs and watch the storms rolls in. All my friends call me a cloud chaser."

Clouds, consider yourselves successfully chased. And Nick Johannsen, consider this mission well and truly accomplished.

Oh, and for the record, these are "mammatus clouds". They're typically described as "pouches" of cloud which hang underneath cumulonimbus clouds (which are your classic rain clouds). Mammatus clouds are always associated with a mix of cold and warm air.

For more stunning images:

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