'Like a dream come true': Photographer who took images of Christ the Redeemer being hit by lightning

The Brazilian photographer who captured lighting striking Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue has described taking the images as ‘unbelievable’ and ‘like a dream come true’.

Lightning struck the iconic structure last month, leaving social media users stunned.

Rio de Janeiro resident Fernando Braga lives with his wife and kids in a property with a direct view of the 98-foot statue.

He was determined to capture a time-lapse video and photographs of lightning connecting with the sculpture, after more than 30 attempts.

‘It was unbelievable at first. Like a dream come true, since I was trying for a long time. At that moment, I was expecting to get some lightning around the frame, but not like this one,’ Braga told Yahoo News.

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‘Photography for me is just a hobby. I love to spend my spare time photographing,’ Braga added. 

‘At home, I have a really nice view of Christ the Redeemer, so I took a lot of photos of it. In sunsets, sunrise[s], with the moon, the sun, airplanes, helicopters, birds, etc. … So I decided to get one with lightning too.’

Braga’s photos sent social media users into a frenzy. He posted several times on different platforms, but the most popular one garnered more than 171,700 likes and more than 3,200 comments on Instagram.

The close-up showed lightning striking the head of the statue, illuminating it like a halo. 

‘I wasn’t expecting that much reaction, since technically, this is not a difficult kind of photo,’ Braga said.

He added: ‘I just want to say that people who try to take lightning photos [should put their] own safety first. I was shooting at home … Protection and safety should always be [a priority]. Once you get that, give it a try! It’s really not difficult to take some great shots.’ 

‘I am completely in awe of this…’ one social media user wrote. 

Another posted: ‘God has sent the world a message!!’

The statue is visited by nearly two million people every year.

The bolt struck the head of the Art Deco-style statue of Jesus Christ on February 10. 

Images of lighting hitting the structure were first posted to Twitter by a user named Massimo, who gave credit to Braga. 

Many social media users questioned whether the occurrence was the work of some divine, otherworldly power. Others commended Braga – whose Instagram account also features several posts showing the statue under more normal conditions – for capturing such a visceral, temporal moment.

One user remarked on how, shockingly, this was not the first time the statue – which was named one of the new Seven Wonders of the World in 2007 – was hit by lightning, with it being stuck two times in less than two decades, in 2008 and 2014.

‘At this point Zeus or Thor,’ the user wrote on one of Braga’s posts. ‘Jokes apart, this is a quite recurrent event, being the highest point, it’s just the luck of having someone doing photography at the right time.’ 

Another hailed the cameraman for his photo-taking prowess, commenting on one of his stills: ‘What a shot! Thanks for sharing.’

A third posted: ‘Wow! Oh just WOW!’

The storm captured in the pictures caused havoc in Rio de Janeiro, felling trees in several neighbourhoods. However, the statue was not damaged by the lightning strike. 

When the structure was struck in January 2014, the occurrence was also caught on camera. 

At the time, officials revealed the bolt damaged the effigy’s thumb, which then had to be repaired.

The 2008 lightning strike on the statue left it unscathed.

Christ the Redeemer stands more than 2,000 feet above Rio, on top of the Corcovado mountain.