Photographer captures rare spectacle of wildfire, thunderstorm, and lightning over Croatian island

Photographer Mario Čuljak captured an extraordinary and dramatic scene over the Croatian island of Korčula, documenting a rare confluence of natural forces: a raging wildfire, a powerful thunderstorm, and frequent lightning strikes. The striking images, taken from Zaostrog between midnight and 2 a.m. on July 12, 2026, show the fire consuming parts of Korčula while lightning illuminated the sky above the island.

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The scene was incredible to observe, but at the same time difficult because you know that on the other side, people are going through something nobody wants to experience.

Čuljak explained that the photographs were not composites, a technique sometimes used to capture multiple lightning strikes in a single image. Instead, each photo resulted from a single exposure, lasting around 30 seconds, which captured the simultaneous events of the fire and the lightning. He noted that the images were minimally edited, with only standard adjustments to exposure and contrast.

"The scene was incredible to observe, but at the same time difficult because you know that on the other side, people are going through something nobody wants to experience," read a statement accompanying the photos. The creators stressed they did not intend to romanticize the fire but rather to record an unusual moment where two powerful natural phenomena converged.

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All the photographs were taken as a single exposure, meaning multiple photos were not combined to get more lightning strikes in the same place, which is sometimes the practice when photographing lightning.

Heavy storms lashed the wider area during the night, and the rain that fell on Korčula aided firefighters in their battle against the large blaze. The photographer described the event as completely unplanned, stating he went down to the sea out of curiosity to see if the fire was visible from Korčula and then witnessed the intense lightning. "Everything turned out to be unplanned, a scene that rarely repeats itself," Čuljak said.

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The photographs were minimally edited, meaning only slight adjustments to exposure and contrast. It's standard photo processing that every photographer does after field shooting.

The images serve as a stark reminder of nature's dual capacity for destruction and awe. While the fire posed a significant threat, the dramatic display of lightning against the backdrop of the blaze created a visually stunning, albeit unsettling, spectacle. Gratitude was expressed towards firefighters, pilots, services, and locals who fought the fire, with hopes for its swift containment.

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Everything turned out to be unplanned, a scene that rarely repeats itself.