I'm Not a Storm Chaser
But I will happily photograph storms when they come to me.
As a weather forecaster who likes to take pictures, you’d think I’d have plenty of really cool storm shots. I have taken quite a few weather pictures over the years, but the ones I like best are mostly from the 8 months I lived in Lawton Oklahoma in 2017.
I have seen some interesting severe weather outbreaks, especially while I’ve been at work. Unfortunately, on most of those occasions, the only camera I had with me was my phone. Still managed to capture the blue/green skies indicative of potentially large hail.
Don’t get me wrong, even with just the phone I’ve managed to capture some pretty cool long exposure lightning shots over the years.
Every once in a while it’s even possible to catch a lighting bolt during the day.
Of course, not every weather shot has to have lightning or severe signatures. Sometimes just being accompanied by a rainbow is more than enough.
This past year, probably my favorite weather picture wasn’t ever really a thunderstorm. Haboobs (aka giant walls of dust) are relatively rare in this part of Arizona, so of course when it looked like one might be coming, of course I had to go get a few shots.
I had my Canon dSLR with me, but the best shots of this storm were actually captured using the panoramic mode on my Pixel 9 Pro XL phone.
For the first time in a couple of years, we are supposed to have above average precipitation this monsoon season … which will likely mean more photogenic thunderstorms. I plan to capture more images with my real camera this year.
I really need to try to find my tripod before then though. lol, I think it’s probably hiding in the same place as my long-lost macro lens.
Your Turn:
Do you ever chase storms or other weather to capture pictures and videos?
Til next time,
Todd
I am an astronomer at an observatory in Flagstaff, from which perch we have to-die-for views of all things atmospheric. Pure weather junkie bliss!
https://substack.com/@murison/note/c-193316918?r=7vndz