Storm Before the Podcast Episode 20: Storm Chaser, Photographer Robert Gallucci

Join us as Rob Gallucci, a storm chaser and astrophotographer, shares his journey into capturing the breathtaking skies of Southern Arizona. Discover his techniques, favorite locations, and the mindset needed to succeed in extreme weather photography. Join us as we explore the awe-inspiring phenomena of sprites, lightning, and storm chasing in Southern Arizona. Lori Bailey and Rob Gallucci share their passion, technical insights, and unforgettable experiences capturing nature's most spectacular displays.

keywords : storm chasing, astrophotography, Arizona monsoon, lightning photography, landscape photography, storm photography tips, night sky, weather forecasting, storm chasing gear, resilience in photography, storm chasing, sprites, lightning, meteorology, photography, Arizona storms, storm photography workshops, atmospheric phenomena, resilience, adventure, transient luminous events

Transcript

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welcome back to another Storm Before the Calm podcast. I am your host, Lori Grace Bailey, and I'm excited to bring a monsoon photographer, astrophotographer, friend, someone I've chased storms with, and someone who is probably as passionate about storms as I am. A little bit too passionate sometimes, but I think we'll get into that. My buddy Robert Gallucci, Robert thanks for joining me. Finally got you on here. My pleasure, Lori I've been looking forward to this. Anytime we get a chance to talk about storms, it's a good day. The only thing better is actually chasing them. Yeah, that's the problem though. We start talking about storms and then we're on the phone for two, three hours and we're like, hey, I gotta go, man. We end up getting lost in talking about storms and that's a great thing though. And, you let me just, for those of you who might not know Robert, Robert is an award-winning photographer, storm chaser and instructor based in Southern Arizona where he specializes in capturing monsoon lightning and extreme weather. His work has been featured in major publications, books and television networks. And he's known for translating a deep understanding of Arizona monsoon storms into striking landscape images. Striking, I see what you did there. He leads storm chasing and Milky Way photography workshops across the Southwest, along with wildlife workshops in New York City, full moon shots. Robert is a night sky ambassador for the city of Wilcox, a member of the Bisbee Dark Sky Committee and a frequent speaker at camera clubs and podcasts nationwide. I've seen some of your work even on the Photo Pills suite, Robert. Yeah, yeah, that was a great interview. they've actually published a whole bunch of your tutorials, I've noticed. I went into myself and saw that. yeah, they're really good. know, Raphael Pons who created PhotoPills, he's a genius. And what he's done to change Milky Way photography, to change alignment photography, you know, when you wanna place an object directly behind or in front of a full moon in New York City, or whether it's a ballerina on top of a rock in a pose. He's at the forefront of that and he was gracious enough to interview me about storm chasing and it was a great interview. I think it got something like 11,000 or 12,000 views. It's really cool to see and I think that was one of the first times I realized like, okay, this guy means business. really integrating more than just a shot, right? You know, getting the moon to line up and I know there are a lot of photographers that do that, but it takes some work. I've tried it. I suck at it by the way. I set up, I got the saguaro in front of me and I'm waiting for the moonrise and the moon's over here. like, Is it my phone? Is it me? I'm trying to use this app and it takes a little practice, but you've actually showed people how to use that and love to teach people. you know, Lori , with a lot of photography, you don't see the misses. You you don't see the times that I did not get the shot. You're only seeing the best of the best. So there's nobody that goes out there and nails it every single time. So it's same with storm chasing, you know? You can have the best information. You can read the sky as well as you possibly can. And the storm, the lightning is hitting five miles away. So, you know, people need to give themselves a break. Well, I've known you for a few years now. How long have you lived in Arizona? And let's go back a little bit. Before we get into some of the cool things that you specialize in and even the things that you're going to be doing this summer, wink, wink. We'll get into that in a few minutes too. But I wanted to find out, let's bring people kind of a little bit backwards and find out how you came to find a love for photography and expand into landscape photography because You know, I just, I was flipping through and I saw you even on the news. I'm like, is that Robert on the news? And I was like, yeah, he's, he's doing astrophotography and was it Bisbee? And I'm like, gone, man, this guy is everywhere. But because you have that passion and you learned how to capture these really cool shots that, you know, a lot of people want to go out and try themselves and you actually take people out there. So how did you, you know, how soon did, did you first fall in love with photography. And let's go from there. So I've always wanted to be an artist, but I suck. mean, I'm just, I just, just, I just can't draw. I can't paint. My voices would kill people if I sang, but I had this creative streak in me and I didn't know how to express it. And in high school, I found a camera and I started using photography. But that fell aside when I got into college and then, you know, life happened and Mm-hmm. career in technology and venture development. And I basically lost it. But when HP came out with like a 10 megapixel digital camera, I bought one, right? And I started slowly getting back into photography and learning again. And it sparked the passion. And then I just started doing landscapes and I got to travel with work. So I always brought the camera with me and it just kept growing and growing. then Excuse me. And then I got to a point where, okay, I'd taken sunrises and I'd taken sunsets and I love that. And I was willing to wake up before everybody else to get that dramatic sunrise, you know? But I wanted to do more and I went on a camping trip in the Adirondacks. Now I'm from New York, all right? The only stars we have are the lights on the buildings. I mean, you know, that's all we got. So I went to the Adirondacks and it was a really dark sky and I took a picture excuse me and I took a picture and I gotta take a drink No worries. And I took a picture and when I got home and I looked at it, it was the tail end of the Milky Way with Andromeda in it. I was done. I was, I was done. I was, at that point I was a night sky photographer. I started reading about it and learning about it and figuring out how to do it. And it consumed me. That was the first, you know, consumed by something in photography. But in New York, you know, you've got to trap. when was this? Like in the early 2000s? Because the cameras weren't this was 15 years ago. my gosh, there must've been a really grainy, the white balance, must've had the, right? Because trying to capture night skies back then, I guess it was still possible. I don't know. I had a Canon, my first was a Canon 5D Mark III and it was not very good for astrophotography, but I was shooting it, know, with the magentas and greens and the shadows, you know what I'm talking about? That ugly stuff. Yeah. Well, I think I shot that with a Canon 10D. So that tells you how long it was. That's a long time ago. But it was enough, it showed me enough to get interested in it. yeah, and I just started pursuing that. And then we were living in New York, you know, and we were traveling around and my wife suckered me into coming to Arizona because, listen. Arizona to me was Bedwins and Cameras. I was a flyover guy and in camels, mean, and it was, I just, you know, but she got me out here because I also loved bird photography and she got me out here and she knows me. She took me to Sedona for three days and I saw Sedona and I was like, my God, this is gorgeous. And then we came down to Sierra Vista and in August it was brutally hot, but People in Phoenix would have words with you or Tucson saying that Sierra Vista is hot, but it gets hot down there. I'll share this story. We get out of, we get the rental car in Phoenix, right? And we're driving to Sedona and on the way up to Sedona on one of the exits is this huge sign, best pie in Arizona. And I have never passed the best pie anywhere sign and not stopped. So it's Arizona, middle of the afternoon, we pull off, we go to this restaurant. I opened the door, it's 106 degrees out. I closed the door and I said, we're out, back to the airport, we're going home. But we spent a week in Sierra Vista shooting hummingbirds and other birds, elegant trogons, sulfur-bellied flycatchers, just everything we've got, you know? And it was August, so I didn't know anything about monsoon. I had never even heard of it before. But in the middle of every day, we had to stop because these storms came through with this, like, insane lightning. And I was like, How do I take a picture of that? You know, like, I gotta get a picture of that. So on the way back to Phoenix, we stopped at Picacho Peak. And back then, we didn't know trackers or anything like that. You know, I took 3,000 pictures and got one lightning shot. I was the happiest human being on the planet. old days of just hope and pray. Yeah. uh So, so we get back to, we get back to Jersey and it's like September and it's cold and it's rainy and it sucks. And we're like, my kids are out, you know, there's no reason to stay here. We literally got a U-Haul, packed up the house, found a rental in here in Sierra Vista, drove down, had no idea. if I was gonna be able to live here and said, you know, we'll give it six months. And six months later, I looked at my wife and I said, we can move further away from people. I'd be really happy with that. And yeah, that was sort of how my photography progressed. And here we had dark skies are measured on a Bortle scale. So nine is super light, know, one is super dark. and we're Bortle 3 and 2 here, so I could do night sky photography, and then the storms came through, and I could do storm photography, and I was like, this is paradise. realized that you all moved in essentially when it comes to landscape photography, you guys landed in the fricking treasure chest inside the gold and the jewels and the rubies and you landed right in there as far as everything. Oh yeah. much more beautiful here. We've got the dust in the sky. mean, you know, we've got amazing cloud formations where some people may see lenticular clouds once a year. You know, we'll get them regularly and you get, they're just, you know, they're just next level or spaceship cumulus. You know, I mean, it's just, it's just, it's just awesome to photograph here. By the way, like while you're hyping up Sierra Vista and Cochise County, you're wearing a shirt by the way, it says Cochise County on it, right? Yeah, check that out. So, and, and I'm just stepping in and I'm interrupting you too, because I say that Nogales, Rio Rico, Southern, South of Tucson is, is, is still that area of the best, uh, dark skies, night skies and all that stuff for, for lightning and, and sunsets and all that stuff and astrophotography and then sprites, which we'll be talking about in a minute. But for Pete's sake, every time I've gone up there, I've always tried to get a shot of lightning. Where are you here? And I kind of jumped ahead of the game here, but this was close to Sierra Vista. Well, this is one of my favorite shooting spots and I've had students in my workshop say, this is the best spot we go to. This is the top of Montezuma Pass. So what we're looking at, uh you're looking at the back end of the Huachuca Mountains on the right and ah that lightning looks like it's coming from uh Palaminas, ah I mean Patagonia, but. We're looking west in this shot, but the beautiful part about Montezuma Pass is just on the other side. This is the San Rafael Valley. On the other side, yeah, yeah, yeah, right. So on the other side of this is the San Pedro Valley, which is just as beautiful. And because you're in an elevated spot shooting down on the mountains, you get amazing lightning shots. And then if you happen to catch it at sunset, you know, you're golden. I know. know it's it's a people, you know, they laugh at us because they, know, you and I are really in a prime position to not have to drive anywhere. I often see these monsoon storms and I'll get back to your story. Sorry, we can talk. We start talking about storms. But, know, those those storms come up from Mexico, right? That that monsoon moisture tends to ride north, depending on the monsoon type, whether it's a muggy on rim shot or whatever. Right. want to lose people though, but bottom line is a lot of that moisture tends to ride up from Mexico and you live like I do very close to the international border. And as that, yeah, as that monsoon moisture rides up there, I see your storm chaser dot pop up. And I'm like, that's son of a gun. You know, all he has to do is get out his front door, take pictures. And there's the San Pedro Valley with that San Jose peak or whatever that one's called. forget the name of that. that's my favorite. I love that. looking on radar, just jealous, like sitting there like, or I'll be out there hauling, but you know, driving two hours out there, try to get to get those locations. And then sometimes, of course it comes to me and I drive up the hill and people are like, we hate you too. Cause I have my own spots here in Rio Rico, but that's the joy of, of Santa Cruz County and Cochise County, which are some of the best kept hidden secrets as far as photography. And so you. podcast. I know, right? I think we're giving them away. But that's what so that's what brought you to Arizona. It was really the love for the skies then. Love for the skies, love for nature, wildlife. The other thing that was really big was I have sort of this self-imposed restriction or mantra, which is I don't want to shoot other people's shots. I mean, listen, there are so many absolutely incredible photographers in the world. And, you know, the guys that found Jackson Hole, or that did Horseshoe Bend or that did Antelope Canyon. The guys that started it with those pictures, the guys that took those, they took original shots and then a lot of photographers went in to get those shots and they're great portfolio shots and other people take different angles and they're beautiful, that's fine. But I didn't want that. I wanted my own shots and Cochise County is untapped, you know? And it's funny because in Cochise County, we've got Chiricahua National Monument. Right. Another Arizona best kept hidden secret. Right. But now they're going to make it a national park. And I, and I worry sometimes like, what's that going to do to it? Right. And then, you know, if you look on social media, Bisbee has become this every third reel you're seeing, you're seeing Bisbee. Yeah. And, and I work closely with Bisbee in the tourism area. So I guess I'm partially guilty for that, but, but you know, more and more people are coming in. So. We need the tourism though. an opportunity to take original shots, but we've still got plenty. We've got the dragoons, you know, we've got so much that we can shoot here. You know, Robert, when you said that to we storm chasers, usually one of the biggest complaints, right? when you're chasing on the Plains is what chaser convergence and you're going to experience that in a few weeks here, you're to know what it's like to be, you know, in this, this conga line of 200 chasers and you're just trying to get to the next supercell in Kansas or something on a dirt road. It's just, it is what it is. but Arizona, tell people they're like, well, is there convergence? I'm like Arizona skies. There's they're wide open. You know, when you get close to Tucson, like you said, there are the tried and true sites, but I'm, I love capturing that. And I do love, you know, there's such a good camaraderie. think, you know, eventually I'd like you to maybe even talk about that too. There's a, you can disagree with a lot of people about a lot of things, but when it comes to storms, it kind of brings us all together and we have a very robust. for the most part, drama-free group of folk, of people who really love storms in Arizona. So even when we do, there's a little bit of convergence on A Mountain. But there's this camaraderie there that we're all excited to. at the same time, I love meeting my friends. But I do, you said something that really resonates with me. And I think it resonates with the people that come out to your workshops is that they want to get images that nobody else does. It's in a different location, a different hill. And you know those. You've been studying those hills and all that for years now. And you offer that advantage because they start off there. It's just a different experience. Yeah, I mean, and that's true. So, I mean, I have literally hundreds and hundreds of mapped spots that meet my criteria. So if you're a pure storm chaser, you may just want a spot that's going to give you good lightning. And there's nothing wrong with that at all. But for me, I want a spot that's going to give me good lightning and a landscape image. So I've mapped hundreds of these spots where I know if the storms to quote, to quote Sirlin you know, to get me to the stadium so that I can find my seat at a great landscape location and get my people the pictures. I mean, it's all about, for me, it's about getting a landscape picture. For my students, it's about getting them a beautiful landscape picture that not only are they gonna have insanely dramatic lightning, but they're gonna have it in a scene that tells a story about. about the land we're on. And they're gonna go home going holy cow you you've got a you've you've let me tell you about this that that's what I love most to about storm-tasting is that For you and I it's it's not just about going out getting a click. Okay, another shot and it's not just about capturing lightning either Okay, I've got a thousand bolts of lightning. Yippee-ki-yay or whatever you want. There's a story to tell and people say you can't tell a story I keep hearing that in amongst photographers is Right. you can't always tell a story. And to me, the more I'm doing these podcasts, Robert, the more people like you are telling me, hell no. I remember the streets that I turned on trying to get to this, okay, I remember encountering this and then there was an elegant trogon as I was driving up the, and you're like, what? And you remember this and it creates life moments just by doing what we do. And I really think there's a story to tell each and every day when we go out to pursue something like extreme weather, like you and I do. um and it's, you know, it also, it satisfies that itch for something new because yeah, sure it's lightning, but it's not the same lightning you got yesterday in that. And it's not going to be in the same place. And as importantly, the cloud formations aren't going to be the same. So, you know, you've got a new palette every single day to capture. And that's different than waking up and, you know, taking a picture of the sun rising behind us or. And don't get me wrong, I wake up to take a picture of the sun rising behind us tomorrow. mean, that's, there's, right. Right. it comes to, especially when you can integrate the storm photography and astrophotography. Holy smoke, what a pair, you know, capturing people seem to really resonate when I'm able to capture this beautiful cumulonimbus over the Santa Rita mountains and then there are stars above it and they're like, how in the hell did you get that? And I'm like, It's a little bit of, it's a lot of experience basically, and it's a little bit of luck and it's a little bit of distance and there's a formula to it and I'm learning how to do that and I love sharing that but you know, I'm gonna, you know, but you gotta keep those secrets too, you know? You don't wanna share everything with everyone, yeah. Well, I mean, the Holy Grail shot, you know, to get a storm with lightning and the Milky Way in it. You know, that's that's that's a storm chaser Holy Grail in southern Arizona. But we can get them. No, it's and you know, you can't plan it. Right. Well, you can increase the odds ever in your favor. Speaking of Hunger Games, you you can make the odds ever in your favor. And that's what we try to do, basically. it's like lightning and rainbows. I mean, I can't tell you when a rainbow is gonna happen, but I can tell you that if the sun's on my back and I've got mist in front of me, the odds are there's gonna be a rainbow. And if I've got a lightning producing storm, then I'm probably gonna get lightning and a rainbow. So I can set myself up to get it. You can't guarantee it, but you can set yourself up to get it. I've had people ask me, you know, or text me when I'm in a storm and I'm on the west side and everybody's on the other side. You know, if you're on an east side of a sunset storm, you get the color all, you get the lightning and the gold and the red colors, bonkers. But if you're out on the other side and you're in the hot spot and you're looking back into the storm with that sun shining from behind you, guess what? You start to get the lightning, you start to get the rainbow too. And I do that, people are like, what are you doing over there? I'm like, Rainbow. I'm just driving like I cannot respond to this, I know what I'm after. And that's just the way I operate. And I'm so glad that everybody has their own passion to chase, their own ideas what to chase too. you know, wanted to ask you, speaking now, you're talking about these different types of storms. Can you share with us one of your most memorable experiences while chasing? So it happened last year. I work closely with Pro Media Gear and they sent me a rail so that I could set up and it's a curved rail. So one of the challenges people have with rails is that they're straight and you'll get lens overlap with a straight rail. So they sent me this curved rail so I can set up four cameras and they're never gonna interfere with each other. So I wanted to get a pro. that one of those photos? I'm going to bring that up then. You can actually talk about that. so I set up the rail. Yeah, that's it. So you can see the rail and I've got two cameras and you can't see there's a GoPro on the other end. Yeah, my arm's blocking the GoPro. But I wanted to get this promo shot, so I set a camera up behind me with a trigger and this storm, by the way, there's another story about, you know, lightning getting too close, but... that's a pretty big bolt. Yeah, so this storm started firing and I needed to make an adjustment on the camera and just as I was making the adjustment, that strike happened. So the camera behind me triggered and got me with, um you know, adjusting the camera with the light bulb. Yes. on the on the shot there too. That's crazy, man I didn't even notice that till I zoomed in that's pretty pretty badass um, so that's probably one, there's probably only two pictures ever of me that I'll say, you know, I'll use as a selfie or something because I, you know, I'm like a lot of people, I don't like pictures of myself, but I love that shot because I think that shot talks, that that shot says what I'm about. Right. That's amazing too. And you actually get to be a part of the story in this shot. So I can see why that's special to you. And by the way, is that just, that's right outside your house, right? Like I hate you for that. Frongyar? Yeah, I hate you. got, I've got a, a wide open field that goes pretty much all the way to the mule mountains. probably 10, 15 miles away. All right. So if a storm comes up the San Pedro Valley, which they often do. All right. And I'm not teaching a workshop because I don't bring students to my house. I will go out to the front. and have this just 180 degree view from Mexico up to Benson basically of anything that happens to be firing. So very often I'll have storms just pass right in front of me. It's not fair, I know, but you know, I got lucky. I mean, people can can move out there, too, as well. I'm sure I'm sure the people of the folks of Hereford and Sierra Vista would say, no, this is a terrible place. When I share some of my favorite shots out of the Chiricahua area and I tell them I have some beautiful lightning rainbow shots just on the on the eastern side of the Chiricahua, which is a magical place, by the way, beyond magical, not even talking about the bird sanctuary and the birding and photography and all that, you know, it is magical. And even cell phones are, it's called, there's a place called Portal on the Eastern side of the, and it's called a Portal for a reason. you know, I took my kids to a cabin and it's just, it's so pristine. Bortle one out there, crazy. It's just crazy skies. of the Chiricahua's, you're, and people won't have this reference, but Douglas is now behind you, so you've got nothing but dark sky. Well, I hope that, you know, I hope people listen and understand just how incredible it is. You know, they think of Southern Arizona, they just think of Sonoran Desert, and they don't even know how beautiful, you know, the high desert is once you get out in that direction towards the Cochise, where the Sonoran begins to mix into the Chihuahuan Desert, by the way. That area is where they actually blend. It's, and people don't understand that, you know, we have the Sky Island mountains and not everybody understands what that is. But so, you know, people think of the Rockies and it's a continuous mountain range from the border to Canada. the sky islands are a non-contiguous mountain range, meaning it's all the same mountain range, but there's valleys in between each mountain. And we have, think seven or eight ecological zones that, that you go from. the basement which is about 4,000, 4,200 feet up to 9,000 feet and you've got different flora and fauna at each zone. So the direct, it's the most biodiverse area in the United States. It's just, it's place is magic. Yeah. love talking about this area because when people tell me, oh, okay, so there's mountains up there, no, you don't get it. You're going from 2,000, 3,000 feet, 1,500 feet in Tucson to, or 2,500 feet in Tucson to, and I just looked at this Chiricahua peak is 9,773 feet. All these nine plus. I'm losing you there. us is over 9,000 feet. So yeah, it's it's magic. It's magic. those Sky Island Mountains are one of the reasons our monsoons are so exceptional because they give us the lift. Yeah. Mm hmm. Exactly. The orographic lifting, for those of you who know, basically you get the moisture and as this in the desert, as the deserts begin to heat up during the day and you have that moisture, then you begin to have that lift as the winds push that moisture up against these giant nine, 10,000 foot peaks. Mount Graham is over 10,000, by the way. And once it pushes those. that moisture begins to condense and that's typically where we get the beginnings of our monsoon storms is right over the mountains. And then we just need that upper level, that mid-level steering flow to push those off into the deserts. And it's a science, but it's beautiful to watch as once you've learned and learn how to expect storms to form, it's just beautiful setting up like a movie theater, right? Like you set up your... your stuff before they're even done. You just start to see the popcorn of the fair weather cumulus and you start to see them bubble. And I see Robert's out already at two o'clock in the afternoon. Well, I have a feeling, you know, that something's going to happen over, you know, the Huachucas or the Chiricahuas And we tend to know like, OK, this is where it's going to start and where it goes. Who knows? That's where the chase is on. I tell my students to go outside in the beginning of the day, in the morning, right? And look at the mountaintop. And I say, okay, do you see those little tiny baby clouds that are up there? That's our storm. And they're like, what? And I'm like, because they have to begin somewhere and all this moisture is starting to go up the side of the mountain. And you'll watch throughout the day as those clouds begin to build, there's more and more moisture. gets thrown up into the mountain and you'll see and then, you know, usually what, two o'clock or so, it's showtime. Exactly, exactly. And I do love to chase it from beginning to end. still love, nobody doesn't love to be at the right spot for a good sunset storm. And that's really where the magic is. But there's so much more that you can capture. Like honestly, lightning's really not my favorite thing to chase between, storm initiation in the middle of the day until, you know, four or five o'clock in the evening when you can really get the crispness of the bolts. that by the way you've actually captured even last year working with a little known device that you got an opportunity to chat with Jeff Boyce. He's releasing Bolt Hunter this, I guess this week as we speak, he's sending off the first shipment. So I'm just excited that more people are gonna be able to not have to fret over the technology that you can put this thing on your camera. and then enjoy the storm and figure out the weather and the forecasting and then focus on the things that you need to focus on. But that's another little aside too. as storm chasers, we get biased. So a lot of us don't chase daytime lightning because in the past you were gonna get a noodle bolt You you were gonna get, you were gonna a single faint strike, right? But Jeff has changed that and I proved it last year. I mean, so what, for those who are watching that don't chase normally, you know, what, storm chasers really love, Arizona storm chasers really love are the step leaders, know, the branches and getting, yeah, and getting that during the day in the past has been, has been a challenge. Um, but the bolt hunter has like up the game. So now when you chase during the day, you actually have the potential and I will say a probability of getting step leaders on your daytime bolt. And I mean, that's, that's a game changer. then So Robert, you mentioned at the beginning of the podcast that, you don't just automatically get the shot. that there are so many shots getting to the shot. That means you have to have had a lot of frustration in your photography career and in just in general, a lot of failures, a lot of busts, a lot of things that you had to overcome. How do you mentally prepare yourself for the challenges that you know you're going to face getting into something like going on a chase where you could get zero, you could spend a whole week The monsoon could be totally moved off and you've got nothing to deal with. How do you mentally prepare yourself knowing that the chance of failure is high? I go home and cry. Yeah, that happens too. I mean, I think. I think it's resilience. It's a mental framework. I mean, I've had an interesting life. Without going into details, you know, the first third of my life, I faced some significant challenges and was able to work through them and overcome them and then to actually rise really above them. I do share with people sometimes. I didn't finish high school because my lifestyle just interfered with it. But I got my GED and got my four-year degree and master's. So I was able to overcome some of the limitations or some of the obstacles I had as a young person. And I think that taught me to not quit, to just remember that tomorrow is gonna be better than today. And that no matter what it is, no matter, I used to share with people, life isn't a flat line. Life is a series of peaks and valleys. And the peaks are tremendous. When you summit a peak, I've done mountaineering and mountain climbing. When you summit a peak, there's an exhilaration that you It's hard to beat, but there's also valleys. And what I share with people is the lowest valley you're ever gonna sink to in your life, as abysmal and dismal as that may seem, that is the foundation for the greatness that that summit is gonna bring you. And just, you gotta work through, and it's tough sometimes, but you gotta work through that valley. Because you're going to be on, it's 100 % guaranteed in life, you are going to make the summit if you keep going and you are going to enjoy that summit so much more for the challenges. And on a micro level, you know, with storm chasing, hell, there are tons of days, maybe not tons, but there are definitely days where I'm chasing the wrong storm. And listen, I would be lying if I didn't tell you what? Welcome to the monsoon every you could be on the wrong storm and expects you to To be in the right area and you could totally miss while everybody else or somebody else gets in Yeah and I'll look at, I don't know if you've ever explained red dots to people, but you know, I'll look at red dots and there'll be this convergence of red dots on an area and there are storms just firing like crazy. And I'm standing there twiddling my thumbs going, why didn't I go left? You know? But. that's the nature. It's not as simple as chasing the planes where you're looking at a triple point or you're looking at other, you know, other other ingredients and then you set up along the dry line. It's so much more intentional. And yes, you still bust and all that stuff. And it's very tough to chase on the plane. But it's a different game chasing pop up storms, pulse storms in the the southwest. Right, but you can't let it get you down. One of the great parts about Arizona Monsoon is that, yeah, you may bust, but it's pretty much guaranteed there's gonna be another one. You know, as long as the season is firing, you're gonna get another shot at it. Listen, there have been times I've been on, I remember a story between you and I where, You know, I did all the, did, for people that don't know before we go out, you know, we, we examine all the charts and we look at what, what the probabilities are and which areas should be best. And everything said I should be going north. Everything said going north. And I got outside and I looked and there is, you can look at all the apps in the world and there is nothing. that's gonna beat being able to read the sky. If I could say that I had one maybe gift, I seem to be able to read the sky well. And I looked and I saw this storm and I was like, no way am I going north. It's east all the way baby. And man, we hit, you went there, I think you were there too. Or you said something to me and you were like, yeah, you're right, go east. And man, we had beautiful storms that day. And I was like, and that's, you know, so yeah, sometimes you're gonna be wrong, you know? But you gotta pick yourself up and just do it again. Everything in life, everything in life. resilience too, resilience isn't something you're born with. It's a summation of failures and choices to move forward ahead of those things and to pick yourself up. But you do, you just got to pick yourself up. you know, my dad, rest his soul, you know, he wasn't around in my life very often. But he told me something one time, he would take me fishing to Elephant Butte Lake, which is going to be at 2%, by the way. speaking of drought conditions they're anticipating Elephant Butte Lake Reservoir to be at 2 % by the end of the year, which is really, really scary as far as snowpack And I want to talk a little bit about that just because we have a little bit of experience and knowledge and what to expect coming up here in a little bit. But I always found myself like missing, you know, I'd lose the fish when we were fishing at the lake and or I would do this or I would make these mistakes and One thing my dad just finally said, and I was frustrated, and he just, we were eating bass that he cooked up on the grill, and we were sitting, and he just sat there quietly, and he goes, you know, kid, there's no use crying over spilled milk. And I was like, I never heard that before. I know it's common, and most people have heard that, but it was the first time I heard that, and that stuck with me. It was just like, man, I'm such a complainer. Complaining and arguing and over the... over the misses and the failures and that is carried with me through a lot of my own personal struggles is, know what, you just can't cry. Okay, so people have been mean to you. Okay, so people are jerks or okay, so you're not at the level that you want to be at. you know, whatever, fill in the blank, stop crying over spilled milk and get on with it, you know, focus, look ahead. And that's what you seem to be saying as a whole. is that you seem to always kind of be looking forward to the future and setting goals for yourself. Resilience and forgiveness. The ability to pick yourself up and keep on pursuing your goal and forgiving yourself for the mistakes that you make or that other people make. know, just be overcome with forgiveness and be overcome with resilience and then just push forward. Hey, listen, I get down. I mean, you know, I can beat myself up as good as anybody else, but... It's how fast you can get to the point where you can forgive yourself or pick yourself up and go back out there. And that's when it's gonna be the best. That's when you're gonna find the most joy. And remembering, mean, good God, we are such a blessed life. We chase storms. I mean, we shoot the Milky Way, we chase storms. We see beautiful wildlife, beautiful birds. I mean, there aren't many places in the country where you get that. So. of that, on top of all that, something that you and I have actually seen with our own eyes that, you know what, if I were to go to my deathbed today, one of the things in the final moments that I would be so grateful to the universe, to the cosmos about is what? Right? Seeing a sprite with your own eyes. I literally know that the if I have moments before my passing that I'm gonna be so grateful that I got to see these this blast of And if for those of you who don't know what a sprite is, it's a transient luminous event Basically, look it up go down that rabbit hole. You're welcome You'll be you'll be checking out Google for the next three hours talking about that But basically there's lightning that we're talking about right now and then there's upward atmospheric lightning and that you can only see in the darkest of skies and it only happens out of certain storms. I won't go into too much of the technical aspects of it but you need these giant, generally you need these giant storm systems called mesoscale convective systems and they will shoot lightning up into the upper atmosphere and they're red and sometimes they're blue jets and there's other types of phenomena that happen that you can see if you know what you're looking at, know where to look at. And if you're in a dark sky area like myself or Robert, we tend to be in a position to look south into Mexico where there are very little civilization, very little large cities on the northern part of Mexico. And you can see 200 miles away this lightning happening. And all I can say is it's life changing. And I still haven't shared the video of me completely losing it when I saw sprites and the star link and a storm over the Santa Rita is all at once. It's crazy. Sprites are like the exclamation point on a powerful sentence about storm chasing. mean, once you see them, once you've captured them, you can never go back. I mean, you can just never, to understand, and you you put that together with the power of lightning, right? And the magnificence of the Milky Way and the scope and scale of our universe and how small we are in it. And then you add sprites to that and you've got this nitrogen igniting in the stratosphere and like, what happened? What was that? And it just, it's just, I mean, you're blessed, but to see that it's just next level stuff. I'm glad that you talked about, you know, a little bit about overcoming and just having to pick yourself up and having to set new goals and to be grateful. And you're talking about gratitude and thankfulness. You know, I think that's universal, but It's hard to actually get there until you cross that bridge, right? You're going to fail. And all I can say is I'm grateful to have friends who are supportive like yourself and so many others, especially in Tucson, that will reach out and say, Lori , it's okay. I know you've had a really shit year chasing, but don't worry. Nicholas Boettcher you know, he actually, yeah, he was on the podcast a few episodes back. I hope you go give it a listen. Super inspiring. And there was one year, 23 or 22, I think, and I didn't get crap that year. And he had just gotten one of the, that bolt out of Marana that shot out and it bolt from the blue at sunset. And I was just like, man, I suck. And he was like, no, it's coming. You said that, you know, you manifest it. Just don't worry. But like the next day, the storm over Rio Rico moved over and I got the rainbow and the lightning in the valley. And it was just, it didn't win any awards, but it was fricking. Come on, three bolts at, you know, before sunset with crossing the lightning bolts right over the Rio Rico High School. Come on. Again, get back to gratitude and just focus on getting a good shot. I'm not gonna diminish people that enter contests and win awards. I think I'm happier knowing the people like the Donna Ruth Ruffs and so many other people. could just, exactly. Like I'm so glad to see people who I've known just rise through the ranks of their own successes. I'm not talking about comparing comparison as a thief of joy, but seeing someone like Donna go from, you know, just someone out there, you know, chasing her passion. getting better and better. Melissa Wambolt, know, Kate Dibbledock, so many people just always constantly getting better and better. And, and I just see there what they produce now. And I'm just like, girl, you're amazing, you know, and, I'm just so proud of so many people that who I, who I've known over these years just get better and better. You're the, you're the same person. And I know I've told you this too is, is you showed up and I was like, who's this guy? Who's this guy with the New York attitude? But you know what though, and I've told you this, you have built something that you should be proud of, especially your photography. People follow you for a reason. They check out your photo pills topics and you've gotten out there and proved people wrong. And that's something that really has resonated with me most. And I'm just really grateful that I even have an opportunity here to, which I guess we can share now. You want to share that? Big reveal? Are we gonna do the big reveal? Okay, here's the big reveal. I am super excited to announce, I am super excited to announce that this year during our Storm Chasing workshops, we are going to have the world famous, most renowned Southern Arizona Storm Chaser, Lori Grace Bailey, joining us as our and joining us as an instructor. And I've got to tell you something that, you know, the hype aside, all right, I am super grateful. If you remember a couple of years ago, I would zoom you in to talk about the science of oh storm chasing with my students. And they love that. They absolutely love that. But having your experience on the road, You know, having your insight, your ability to forecast with us is just going to take the workshops to the next level. And I couldn't be happier. I'm really, you when you asked about it, I was thinking, it took me a while to get back to you because it's not something I do normally and I do love to chase by myself as well. But the fact of the matter is when I do workshops and when I do private workshops, I just have a blast. And ultimately what it comes down to is I really love sharing that knowledge. know, there are so many people that are gatekeepers, but when you're in a group of people who want to learn. They look like little yous, know, years ago and they're just like, feed me Seymour, I don't know how to get from here to there. And then to show them that and I always try to take a picture, I tell people to take a mental picture at the beginning, even during my portraits or whatever the kind of photography. So remember how you feel at the beginning, but then also at the end, I'm going to ask you how was it? And remember how it started to where you're at just in that short amount of time. And I love watching people's lights. The lights go on, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, the excitement and the images that they can capture. And I love that. And being able to just team up with you for some of these workshops that you're doing. Like I said, you've really just built this from the ground up. And it's solid. And everyone I've talked to in some of the other conferences that I've spoken at, know, Night Photo Summit, I should say, and these other. actually meet people that are like, hey, do you know a guy named Robert Galucci? I'm like, yeah, I do. And they're like, yeah, I've taken his workshop before. I'm like, man, this guy gets around. This is pretty wild. You are known in the astrophotography world. that just made it something like, this guy is solid. He is someone who follows up, who's training people, but he's sticking with them also and making sure that they get the tools they needed. So I'm excited to say that, to be able to get out there and and chase with you and your group and to be able to share that knowledge that I've gained over all the years and those secrets that we've really worked hard to capture. I'm just excited to be able to do that for the select few who choose to join us on those days. you know, there are, I say there are two types of workshops and one is not better than the other. One is just, each one is suited to a different goal. So there are workshops that, and workshop leaders that will take you out to a location and point you in a direction and say, take your shot. And some people love that. I mean, some people just want to go and get the shot. That's not our workshops. Mm-hmm. Our workshops are teaching workshops. Mike, you know, there's a lot that goes into storm chasing and preparing for the chase. And then once you're out there and I don't want to take people out to take pictures of storms and lightning and then have them go home and say, wow, okay, I got a storm coming through here tomorrow. What am I supposed to do? Ours are teaching workshops. When you leave our workshop, you will be able to take Well, I hope you will be able to take your camera and your lightning trigger and have a spot near where you live that you know is going to be a good location and set up and capture storms on your own. And then my Milky Way workshops are the same way. and you know, my wildlife, all my workshops are teaching workshops. I want you to leave with the knowledge on how to accomplish what you did during the workshop on your own. So. you know, you and when you first started doing your workshops a couple years or a few years ago, I was, I actually questioned, why are you basing out of Sierra Vista? Like everybody bases out, everybody else does something different. Robert, why aren't you doing it like everybody else? Why aren't you basing out of Tucson or Phoenix or wherever else, you know, they might base. And I'm not knocking anybody else by the way. I'm talking about you, like. Right. What's this guy, man, people aren't going to want to go to Sierra Vista. And here I am on the flip side of thing we started out talking about. Man, Cochise County is the place to be for storms. yeah, I think I just answered my question, you know. But it was true. I mean, I remember we were talking about it once and you mentioned, why don't you base out of Tucson? Because it's so much easier to get from the airport to, but yeah, but then you're to be an hour in the car every day getting down to where the storms are. It's sort of important to mention and you've mentioned it a couple of times, but not some of the foundations of it. You know, during monsoon, the jet stream changes and the moisture starts coming up. from the south. Well, you know, we're in reasonably close proximity to the Gulf of California and you've got a huge mountain range on the coast there and that moisture starts flowing up and it comes up, it comes north and it's relatively unimpeded until you start to get to the Sky Island Mountains and then you're getting even more lift. So Does all of Arizona enjoy storm, monsoon storms? Absolutely they do, you know? But if you look at statistics for lightning strikes year after year after year, Cochise County is going to be number one. Santa Cruz County is gonna be number one. It's because the storms are traveling north and they're getting a little bit extra lift when they get to us and this is where they're gonna fire. Do they make it up to Tucson and are there other unique conditions in Tucson that also feed them even more? 100%. That's why Marana is such a good place to be when you've got great storms. Yeah, Marana is sort of special. you know, or Morenci, is that Safford, you know? off of the White Mountains, Yeah, mean, yeah, it's going to be great, but consistency wise, if you're along the border, Santa Cruz County, Cochise County, you are in the spot where they're going to initiate and where you're going to get the most storms. And I'm like, when people come to my workshop, I need to, especially now that I've gone crazy and offered a hundred percent guarantee. to capture lightning on my works. know, I know everybody's like. hey, you know what that that's pretty I guess I hate to use the term ballsy I mean, it's pretty ballsy to say, you know, I'm gonna get you a shot of lightning I think that's pretty cool though. And you know, I I think that I don't know actually Joining up with you. I know that there's a there's a really really extremely high confidence in that as well Especially for someone that's gonna be with you for five days you with me is going to increase the odds. I put myself up there as being able to consistently find storms with anybody else. And you're at a level above me. And I think that, you know, the combined weight of both of us is going to make for probably one of the best storm chasing workshop seasons ever. excited. I'm excited and I'm excited to just share that even just for a few days with with a group of new people, make some new friends. But, you know, again, like I want to get some bangers over the Chiricahua. I want to get some bangers over the Chiricahuas the Huachucas Nogales. man. And that's the other thing is I have 28 years of experience working in the deserts of southern Arizona. Let's put it that way. I know these roads. It was fun stuff, but I know these roads and I know a lot of these beautiful vistas that afford just the best views of the Santa Cruz and San Rafael valleys. Just so fun. Road, you know, and that whole section of Santa Cruz that's just magic, you know, and then going up to three points from there. And I mean, you know, it's just, it's, oh, the storms aren't in Cochise County, they're in Santa Cruz, but they're not in Sonoyta. They're further east. Yeah. Cruz County, Cochise County, man, that's 90 % of the best monsoon days. And then they move off, right? And then they can move off into Pima and everywhere else. Really cool. but you know, even so so you talk about Cochise and we've been talking about Montezuma Pass and the Chiricahua and everything but hell, you know, even Senoida is so, you know, people people pay a lot of money to go to Palouse and rightfully so Palouse has those rolling hills with the great shadows. But we have a mini Palouse in Senoida, you know, you've got these rolling hills that turn green in the enduring monsoon. and you've got these beautiful shadows on these rolling hills. And then you've got, you know, the mules or you've got the Mustang Mountains and the storm comes off of that. So now you've got these rolling hills, these beautiful shadows, this great light, and you got lightning coming off the mountain. Doesn't get better than share this. just captured this one last year in Sonoyta. I don't normally share my own photos because I want this to be about you. But look at this shot, dude. This was such an incredible storm. And that is the Chiricahuas. That is looking towards, in fact, this is the Wachuka Mountains way off in the distance. And this would be Montezuma Pass right over here where we shared that photo at the beginning of the podcast shooting this way. And this was in Sonoyta. Look at the little cows just chewing on the little grass here. the craziness of this storm. was with Liz Camp and Brooka Zimmerman and we were just like, what are you kidding me? Because of the interactions, the storms that fired off of the Huachuca and then the outflow that came out from Nogales area, Patagonia, and they merged and the outflows can combine to create this storm right here. And look at them, the bolt coming through and just the hail core. bolt. You've got, you've you've got, it looks like I'm looking at hail core up on the upper left. Yeah, I mean, you've got this gorgeous hail core coming out of that. You've got inflow coming off that. I mean, I mean, that's, that's just like, excuse me, but that's the perfect storm. Oh, I was, that's one of my favorite shots of the year. And there's a little bit of rainbow in that too. But anyways, you know, as we wrap up, Robert, I want to share a couple of yours though, cause that's, that's kind of a, that's kind of lame of me to share my photos, but you know, I want to share yours. And as we, as we wrap up, tell us a little bit about these. I'm going to pull these back up, but you know, we already saw this one where, uh, that that's pretty cool though. So you got one, another one here. we talked about this. So, you know, you can't guarantee a rainbow is going to form, but you sort of know that if the sun is behind you, then you've got a high probability that a rainbow is going to be in front of you. And it's funny, people say, I want rainbow and lightning. I have 22 lightning strikes off this storm with rainbows. Oh my gosh. rainbow one out of it, but that was just, and it's come, you you can see the lights starting to fade, you're getting that gold color. that was just, that's just one of my favorite chats. wicked. I love it. What is this peak called? I forget. This is, these are the mules. San Jose Mountain, it is. we unfortunately we cannot chase in Mexico. uh That's literally you can actually you may be able to see the border wall. Yeah you can see the border wall right there. So that's the border wall. So I'd say seven to ten miles away we have a pull-off. Mm-hmm. us right on San Jose Mountain. And the beautiful thing about San Jose Mountain is there's really nothing behind it. So soon as the storms hit that, they get an extra jolt of lift. And that mountain is the perfect mountain. mean, it's like, you were to draw a mountain, that's the mountain you would draw. you've got this great positive bolt coming out and. And of course you've got the clouds covering the mountain and you've got all this good structure. Just a gorgeous shot and that's one of my favorite shots. That storm produced quite a number of keepers, but that's one of my favorites from it. You know, it's just, I have so many, every time I've made that, that journey, um, I had to, to full send because I was thinking that the magic would happen. And I have some of my best shots that personally that I love the most at sunset over these peaks here from pretty much near the same area that you captured this at. And it's tricky. It's tricky to get down there and find the spots because it's limited. There's a lot of bushes and the road doesn't really let you get down there. ah There are a few spots and you and I happen to know where they are. Exactly. I put in the work. Yeah, go ahead. this is, you know, this was just a quadruple bulk. That's not a composite, you know, it was just a. uh was fast. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Yeah, and it was a longer exposure, know, later, much later in the day. So we were able to keep the shutter open longer to be able to get that. You know, that's not a everyday shot. have, you know, I have a number of multiple strikes, and at night, of course, I have a lot of multiple strike shots at night, but to get it sort of towards sunset is to get that nice color in the sky. or triple banger at sunset's pretty pretty pretty awesome to get. Do you, Robert, do you use, I get this question all the time, do you ever use ND filters? Okay, uh I'm gonna dive into this controversy. There's been an evolution in ND filter usage and a lot of it has been informed by other people sharing their knowledge. We used to say, shoot with a six stop during the day and then go to a three stop and then go to nothing. But as we learn things change and actually, Yes, during the bright day, you know, during the middle of the day, we will use a three stop filter because it's tough to get down to that magic one 15th of a second or slower oh shutter speed. No, you want to write, but. F21, yeah. It's tough. you know what we found was that there was too much diffusion of the bolt at a six stop filter. So now we go to three stops. What we've also found is that your aperture really isn't going to make it. I was terrified to shoot above f11. You know, I was just f11. I wasn't gonna move from there. But I shot the beginning of this season. Well, it's not the season yet. We had some storms come through earlier this year and I forgot my filters at home. And I was shooting at F22 and I got some epic strikes at F22. what I tell people. no, no, we're getting into the, into the aspect of, of really professional landscape photographers who will tell you old school photographers who will say, you cannot shoot at F 22. said F 21, but F 22 for what, for what? Because of diffraction. When you have your aperture, you know, stop down that far and you get the little bitty course, you know, you're going to begin to get, um, your image is going to blur out. It's not as sharp. And I'm like, you know what, prove me wrong. Every shot that I have captured at F22, F18 with the lenses that I use on the cameras that I use now today, diffraction is not a noticeable issue. the magic number for daytime storm photography, you know, and you said it, one 15th of a second is as fast as I'm ever wanna go, but I wanna be at a quarter second or slower. And I'm gonna do what I have to do to get to that shutter speed to be able to capture the bolts during the day and with the step leaders. So yes, three stop filters. talked about that because these are technical issues that we've encountered that we had to sort through. I rarely, I keep my ND filters with me on the chase and I haven't used them. I'm just going to tell you, I haven't used my ND filters in four or five years. I think I've given up using them and people are like, oh no, you have to. And I'm like, uh no one's complaining. with my photos when I get the daytime photos. Yeah. Sure. Yeah, I have I have no problem with that. Yeah, I just I'm also going for a different thing to though in middle of the day, I'm going for for time lapses. I'm looking for some B roll time lapses and capturing the experience too. So it's a little different. But let's move on. Let's see. Okay, so that's Marana, all right? Last season, um you know, drove all the way north and we just had this, this was a storm. Every storm chaser in Arizona was in Marana that night, you know, somewhere. And this storm just started blasting and this positive strike ah and you've got, you know, that's actually a school in the lower right-hand corner. And it was just a beautiful shot at sunset. Wow, I see the mount that looks like ironwood maybe? No I think Pikachu is up this way but uh very cool. Maranhas always gives magic too. So, back to Montezuma Pass. So I'm on Montezuma Pass facing Santa Cruz County, that's the San Rafael Valley, and this storm came up and I was like, this is gonna be a bust. I mean, we're just not gonna get it. And the sun's going down. pretty crappy honestly that the clouds look uh, they just look like it's pretty much a bust day. They're not very interesting was, so that storm was right on me. mean, was, there were, everything was wrong, you know? And I'm shooting into this, I'm shooting into fog, I'm shooting into clouds. And I'm like, I don't know, but man, then it just started going. And again, longer exposure, but I was able, so the triple strike alone in this is great. But the triple strike with the cloud to cloud, I think just makes it. I love this shot. Very cool. Especially when you know that you think it's going to be a bust of the day. Arizona, Southern Arizona has some really, really some of the best magic out there, man. I, you know, it's, just insane how, how much magic can really surprise you in Southern Arizona is it's, it's just absolutely fantastic. I want to share more of mine too, cause I'm like, you know, I want people to see the stuff that, that you and I like to capture. Maybe in a different podcast. I think I might just do my own to where I get to share and people can see that I really don't share my own stuff just because I want to be able to tell other people's stories finally in this so, know, and and I have my Instagram people can can find me at Lori grace az.com. Where can people find you Robert? So RGalucci workshops on Facebook um and m RGallucci workshops on Facebook and um Instagram, it's RGalucci. um Those are where I do most of my posting. You know, I am on threads. I've just started to post to there. know, Lori , thank you for pardon. What about your workshop? You got that coming up? How can people find your workshop? let me do that. So we would love to, I've got to do the share here. We would love to have people join us and. And can you see it? It's coming. There it is. Hey, that's my same shirt. rgaluchiworkshops.com, 2026 Storm Chasing. And you can see here, this is your team, Rob Galucci and Lori Bailey. And this, nobody, there is not a storm chaser that I know of in the country that's willing to make this. But I'm so confident in Southern Arizona that we have a lightning guarantee. If you come on our workshop, you're gonna capture at least one lightning strike. And I'm really confident in that, even more so now that Lori is joining us. um five to 10 hours to get the bolt, we're going to get it because that's what that's that's the name of my game that everyone knows who who knows me that knows I'm going to I'm going to shoot, you know, shoot my shot. if it if the lightning is in the Gila Mountains in western New Mexico, Lordsburg, West Texas, let's go or white sands, you know. So let's go and be prepared for a long drive and take some snacks and bring your bring your good shoes and, you know, let's get after it. but I just want to point out as a rule, we don't have to do that. And as general rule, we've got enough storms happening between Cochise and Santa Cruz County that we can capture. But if it's at White Sands, we're going to White Sands. You know, it's, you're right. So these are the workshops we run six work, do I have six? One, two, three, four, five, six. Yep. The July 16th to July 19th is sold out. And the August 13th, the 16th is sold out. We've still got room at the end of July. We've got a little bit of room in the last two weeks of July. we've got, and this is freaking me out because August is banger month and we've got space in August. know, I haven't had a year yet that we haven't, what, banger month? We haven't had a year yet that we haven't sold out every workshops and they will sell out. So if you're watching this podcast, my suggestion is sign up now before you miss your chance to get one of the greatest adventures you're ever gonna have. I say storm chasing is the most exciting thing you can do with a camera in your hand. I don't think there's any, think Milky Way photography is the most humbling photography you can do because you. You can see how vast the universe is and storm chasing is the most exciting thing you can do with a camera in your hand. And if there's a chance for sprites, by the way, I didn't get sprites last year. I got the most amazing sprites last the year before. And so it was just wasn't in the cards and storms were on top of us over Arizona, West Texas, New Mexico um this last year. So I wasn't, you have to be a distance away to capture sprites. So I'm hoping, I'm hoping to actually share that knowledge and unlock those secrets to those people. There's another one from San Jose Peak. And you've got that other strike sorted by Canelo all the way in the back, but there we go. Well, Yep. And the double strike too and the sprites. Yeah. So, I mean, and the Milky Way in the upper right-hand corner. So, I mean, if we have the opportunity to shoot sprites, we are gonna shoot sprites. And you can see the powerful storm on the bottom that's actually firing those sprites. sprites are caused by positively charged bolts. So that's a giant positive bolt that was overblown, that was blown out on the bottom. But you can still see that giant sprite with the obligatory Milky Way on the right side too. So it's a nice balance. here's an interesting thing about sprites here. So, you know, there is probably the greatest sprite photographer in, I would say in the world, in Texas, Paul. But is he in Oklahoma? Okay, so, but you know, he's just got every condition to be magical. Yeah, he's amazing. You know, we all bow to him. But. For sure. I will say this, if you're shooting sprites in Southern Arizona, the odds are you're gonna have the Milky Way in your shot because we're shooting right at night, right into the Milky Way. So the storms are happening with the Milky Way going overhead. So you're probably gonna get a piece of the Milky Way in your shot. And that's epic. And that's one of my big goals this year is to capture sprites. If you're along for the ride, then you get to hopefully be a part of that as well. But Robert, you know, I appreciate you sharing your passion, your thoughts and talking about resilience. let me just end with this. What do you think about this year? You know, last year fooled us that the climate prediction said that we'd be some above average chances for moisture in southern Arizona. And it didn't materialize until near the end of the season. I was in West Texas. I was happy as a bug capturing some just gigantic storms and over the Franklin Mountains in El Paso, white sands. I just had a blast over there, but I went back and forth. So I did get in on Arizona's biggest hubbub, you know, dust storm out in the. know, Casagrande to Phoenix, I was here for that. But people kind of felt, you know, people kind of felt a little miffed at the fact that the forecast didn't play out. That's the name of the game with the monsoon. And there's frustration to be had. But this year looks different. What's your take from what you have been reading and some of the, you know, some of the prediction? What's Robert Galucci's prediction for the monsoon? It is true that for most of Arizona, it was a below average monsoon last year. However, we captured in Southern Arizona, lightning almost every single day. That's the difference of our geography being this far South. So we didn't have a terrible monsoon. We didn't have the best monsoon ever. We worked, but we were able to get lightning. I think this year. is going to be above average. think the conditions, I mean, you know, we've got a lot of very favorable conditions. You and I looked before we started this podcast, the Gulf is beginning to heat up. ah I think by mid-May, we're gonna hit that magic number on the Gulf of California to start generating that moisture. I think the conditions are looking good. for an above average monsoon in all of Arizona. And what that means, it's gonna be really above average in Southern Arizona. So I'm anticipating a good season. I tend to agree with that. I think we're going to see a couple of larger scale haboops. And I don't have the science to back this. I just think that once that moisture does hit, those sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of California right now are higher than they were this time last year. The CPC is saying above average chances for higher precipitation in Arizona, especially even the Four Corners area. I'd love to be able to get some shots at Monument Valley. Oh my gosh, that would be epic. or Shiprock like Jim Tang has captured, I have a feeling this is going to be a banger year. And I say that with very cautious optimism because everybody is like, we've been burned before, Lori. And I'm like, you know what? Take it as a grain of salt. Don't rely on me. But I'm feeling the optimism that it might not necessarily be above average rainfall. But as far as storms, the kind of stuff that we like to get clicks on, I have a feeling it's going to be a good year. going to be above average. I think we're going to have an epic season. I have a feeling that if you're a storm chaser in Southern Arizona, if you're just willing to drive out of town, I think if you're willing to drive 60 to 120 miles each and every day, I think you're going to get something worthy that you can be proud of. Not necessarily get the big clicks and stuff on social media. My goal I tell people this each and every time is if I can go home at the end of the day with one shot that I'm super proud of, then I consider that a success. That's a good day for me. And most often it's 10 or 50 shots that I end up coming home with like, woohoo. But if I can get that one, I'm just after the one. The rest is icing on the cake. Robert, this has been great. we get to share this experience and knowledge and excitement of the passion that we share together. And I hope those of you who are listening, I hope that you listen and if anything, you capture something, especially talking about the stories of adversity and resilience because that's really what we're trying to do. Most of us who are storm chasers, we've already been through a lot of crap in life and we travel to the storm for the calm of it and for the excitement and the enjoyment of it. so anyways, Robert, it's been great and I look forward to joining up with you and your guests on the tour this summer. Cool. Well, I mean, thank you for having me. This has been amazing. And, you know, I'm looking forward to feedback. Please share my email address. If people have specific questions, want to, you know, reach out to me. I'm more than happy to answer questions. at. at our glute you. It's Robert at our glute you workshops.com. it. Robert at rglucy.workshops.com. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I'll make sure it's right there on the bottom there. Then they can find you there. Pretty easy to find, not an easy name to miss on the internet. you know I was born Italian, name's long. I'm not gonna go there with the Sopranos joke. We'll end with that. Appreciate you Robert. Thanks a lot everybody for listening and listening this far. If you actually listen to the whole podcast, please do like and subscribe. when you get to storm chasing, you actually achieve some of those goals of sharing your passion. You know, you get to share that with the world and put some positivity in the world. That's what we're trying to do as well. As I always end with, shine your light while you still have it. Take care, everybody. Love it. Thanks, Lori . Take care.