Fancy something a bit different? Want a bit of excitement and adventure whilst learning new video and photography skills? Why not join me on this week long adventure workshop? Don’t forget as a training workshop this trip is tax deductable!
Departing early in the morning on the 23rd of May from Oklahoma City we will seek out some of the most breathtaking weather on the planet. Along the way I will share my skills and knowledge as I teach you to capture impressive images, whether video or stills. Late May is prime time tornado season in the USA.
SUPERCELLS: The most spectacular storms on the planet!
The storms that produce the Tornadoes are called “Supercells”. These are intense, long lived thunderstorms that can often look like scenes from sic-fi movies. We should see incredible landscapes and scenery, cloud formations that will amaze, incredible sunsets and if we are very lucky maybe a tornado or two.
Is it dangerous? Not as dangerous as it may appear on TV! These storms are incredibly powerful, but I am not out to get as close as possible to a tornado, nor am I interested in getting into any other un-necessarily dangerous situation. I have been chasing storms like these for over 12 years, I know how to stay out of trouble and the van will be equipped with both a satellite data system and a GPS and cellular data based storm tracking system. Using these I will know exactly where the most dangerous parts of the storms are and in fact tornadoes are actually quite predictable.
If a safe opportunity to approach a tornado presents itself then I will take advantage of this, but what I want is beautiful, jaw dropping images of the storms and storm structure. These take a couple of minutes to compose so I will often be hanging back a little to give us more time to get those once in a lifetime images. After dark I don’t like chasing barely visible tornadoes, instead I will find a good place a little way away from the storm to shoot the often incredible lightning that occurs.
What will you learn? As many of you may know I am an expert on camera setup and camera technology. I’m also a highly experienced documentary film shooter. I will happily pass on as much of that knowledge as you wish. I can teach good exposure, framing, picture profiles, log and raw shooting, editing, time-lapse and photography techniques. Why sit in a boring class room learning this stuff when you can have a real adventure at the same time. I find I always learn more about shooting techniques when the pressure is on!
Typically on day 1 I will teach basic framing and exposure with tips on how to prepare your camera for the scenes we are likely to encounter. Day 2 would be lesson on time-lapse techniques and methods. Day 3: We can look at raw and log formats and how to use them correctly. Day 4: Picture Profiles and advanced camera setups. Day 5: Documentary shooting tips, location sound and industry best practice. These are just some ideas, the tuition would be tailored to suit the needs of those in this small group.
Will we see storms? Well that is the big question. Unfortunately there is no guarantee that the weather will co-operate. However one reason this trip is being arranged and run last minute is because I have been keeping an eye on the weather trends and long term forecasts waiting for as best as I can see a good window of opportunity. Mid/Late May should be well into the storm and tornado season, this is the time of year when things are normally at their best. The global weather pattern that produced the surprisingly cold Spring is starting to break down and a much more typical late Spring pattern is on it’s way in the coming days. I would be very surprised if we don’t see storms on at least a couple of days, but I cannot guarantee anything. Typically for a storm chase in May I would expect to chase active strong to severe storms on 4 out of the 7 days. Down days are often needed to re-position for later active storm days and of course down days are days where we can have further tuition.
So what’s it going to cost? I try to make my courses and workshops as affordable as possible. This is no different, but there are many costs to be covered including vehicle hire, fuel, data and accommodation. The cost for this workshop is $1,900 USD per person. This includes a full week of tuition, motel accommodation between check-in on May 22nd and departure on May 30th, and transport during the trip (starting and ending in Oklahoma City). It does NOT include any food or drink or your transport to the start and end point (Oklahoma City). Compare this to the cost of a typical Storm Chasing tour, that does not include video production tuition and you will see that this is remarkable value. If your coming to the US for this trip then do consider that the Cinegear Expo trade show at Paramount Studios takes place May 31st and June 1st.
If you wish to come please use the contact form to contact me ASAP. Places are very limited (5 places maximum) on this exclusive workshop. It will be fun, informative and an adventure.