Storm chasers Zach Roberts, Savannah Williams, and Jason Weingart launched a Kickstarter at the beginning of January in an attempt to help fund their new book, which breaks down the dynamics that drive severe weather. With 3 days remaining in the 30 day campaign, the trio has managed to raise just under $40,000.
We've all seen the pictures that look like the sky is short circuiting. Some people hate them, but I get a crazy response when I create these. It seems like every time I post one, I get several messages from people asking how to do this process. I've been promising to put this tutorial together forever, so here goes.
In May 2014, Savannah and I decided to spend the weekend in Marfa, Texas. She had always wanted to visit the town, and I was curious about the Marfa Mystery Lights. Coincidentally, the only chance for decent storms that weekend happened to be in southwest Texas. We got up in the morning, packed the car, and hit the road for Marfa.
Happy Independence Day! Taking photos of fireworks is a lot like shooting lightning. Both require a long exposure, change quickly, and are very bright. They both can also make EXTREMELY BORING images if not handled properly. There are millions of images of fireworks floating around online, what are you going to do to make yours different?
I've always been a big fan of horror movies, and one of my favorite series is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, so when I discovered the house from the 2003 Michael Bay film was just one county away, I had to go see it. After a few minutes on Google, I found the exact location of the house and a few blog posts and videos from people that had already gone. The first thing that caught my attention was a sign that read, " PRIVATE PROPERTY & ROAD. KEEP OUT OR GO TO JAIL OR WORSE. REST IN PEACE"
This morning, my day started like any other. I climbed out of bed, turned on the computer, walked over to the Kuerig, and started brewing a cup of coffee. I sat down with my coffee, signed on to facebook, and began checking notifications and replying to messages. That's when I opened up a message from a friend, linking me to someone's facebook page. I clicked the link, and sure enough, there was an image of a supercell I shot in 2012, except it was totally oversaturated, contrast pumped up to all hell, and someone else had their name slapped across the bottom of it. They were taking my work, and trying to pass it off as their own!
May 31, 2013 was the only time that I ever thought that I might actually die while chasing storms. An erratically behaving supercell; a violent, rain-wrapped wedge tornado; and a tv weatherman giving citizens the worst possible advice, "This tornado is unsurvivable above ground. If you can't get below ground, you need to drive south"... All the ingredients came together that day resulting in a disaster like which has never been seen in the weather community.
I began chasing thunderstorms in the fall of 2009. Over the course of the last three and a half years, I have seen some amazing phenomenon, but the one that always eluded me was a high contrast, photogenic tornado. Three and a half years, and twenty thousand miles on the road later, I finally found what I had been looking for all this time.
