Storm Before the Podcast Episode 24: Storm Photographer and Chaser Willard Scott

Join us as we explore storm chasing, photography, and risk mitigation with seasoned storm chaser Willard Sharp. Discover insights into capturing stunning weather images, navigating storms safely, and the evolution of storm chasing over 35 years. In this insightful interview, Willard Sharp shares his journey as a storm photographer, emphasizing the importance of passion, responsibility, and resilience in storm chasing and photography. Discover practical advice on growing your social media, managing burnout, and capturing stunning weather phenomena.

keywords

storm chasing, weather photography, storm safety, tornado photography, storm chasing tips, weather photography tips, storm photography, tornado photography, storm chasing community, weather photography gear storm chasing, photography, weather, resilience, social media growth, storm photography tips, storm chasing community, financial responsibility, burnout prevention

key topics

• Storm chasing techniques
• Weather photography tips
• Storm safety and risk mitigation Balancing storm chasing with a full-time career
• Growing a social media following beyond the weather community
• Managing burnout and avoiding chasing addiction
• Capturing meaningful storm and weather images
• Financial responsibility and avoiding debt in storm chasing

guest name

Willard Sharp 

key frameworks

• Risk mitigation in storm chasing
• Patience in weather photography
• Navigation strategies in storm chasing

• 35 Years of Storm Chasing: Insights from Willard Sharp
• Mastering Weather Photography: Tips from a Storm Chaser

Transcript

0:00

welcome to another episode of the Storm Before the Calm podcast. I'm excited to bring another friend today, someone who I've known for a few years in the storm chasing community. And I'm excited to finally get to pick his brains. This guy wins awards. He's got some excellent photography consistently. And that's something I'm always looking at when I'm looking at people that I want to, you know, that I want to mimic as far as getting out there and getting really amazing images. Willard Sharp is one of those people. Willard, thanks for coming to the coming on the podcast and agreeing to finally let me pick your brain a little bit for this. You bet. Thanks for having me on. Absolutely and we were just talking before we started recording and I wanted to get into it. Willard, you've been storm chasing for how many years? This is my 35th season officially. goodness. Okay. I've only been chasing since 2015. So 35. Well, we'll get into the history of that in a little bit, but you just, you know, we had to reschedule this once already because last week was a really good week for you. Was it not? It was an excellent week. Iowa and the Midwest in general has been the place to be so far this spring. You know, kind of unlike last year where Iowa was pretty much dead, where I actually did very little chasing here in my home state. I chased in Iowa four times this week, which was, which is almost unheard of, you know, even during a normal season, which is, you of course, very nice. You know, can, you know, that means I can come back home at night, sleep in my own bed when the chase is done. that's me in the monsoon. But you look like a kid in the candy store, so I'm a little jealous. You got this little smirk on your face because that tells me that you were successful this week. Do you happen to have a few shots that you can share with us now? Yeah, it was definitely a very successful week for tornado intercepts, lots of cool lightning and structure and that sort of thing. So let me share here. Normally we don't do the photos and stuff till the end, but Willard mentioned that he had just captured some cool stuff, so I can't wait to see these. Yep. So this is from earlier this week. This is near Webb, Iowa, which is kind of in North central Iowa. And so, you know, it was a day up in Minnesota, you know, the Truman area had a very nice tornado up there. But this was kind of, you know, I kind of stayed on the Iowa side of the border. I kind of played the tail in Charlie storms and this one right at sunset. It was a little supercell. He was initially kind of in a cluster. It got, it finally kind of separated from, you know, the herd. And, um, yeah, I, I came in from the North and I was kind of on the forward flank of this storm and this, you know, storm produced three tornadoes. One was pretty brief and pretty small. This is the second one here. There's a beautiful classic, you know, Midwest Iowa type, you know, tornado, um, was at sunset and it kind of looks, um, well, you can kind of see where it looks like off in the distance that's fog. Well, that's actually heavy rain. was pouring on me when I was standing outside the vehicle and took this shot. Because like I said, I was kind of still in that forward flank and I was getting rained on. Wow. I can't even tell. I can tell that I can see the rain near the fence line there. uh But you saw that opportunity with that sun coming in, giving it that perfect contrast. And it's not overly saturated either. I don't know if you've fully even. Doesn't look like you've done a full Photoshop edit to it yet. even as it is, if this is the raw, it looks like it's just a raw shot. Or is this a? OK. So I saw a little bit. It was a really quick at it. I did this at it like at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning before I went to bed. So it still needs a little bit of work, but I really love it a lot. You know, I love the cool sunset colors. You got some of these young blues up here in the corner because, you know, it's getting very late. You know, the light and the sun is setting. And so and I didn't you know, I could have got out of the rain, but. These three tornadoes did not last very long and I knew if I kept driving I would probably lose it. So you got to make the executive decisions like you stop and you know and take the shot. Dr. Jason purse off told me that in the last podcast that we talked about he says take the shot You're not if you see the shot. Don't waste your time. You're not gonna go back You're gonna miss the shot if you don't if you if you see it take it and so that's what you did here And that is solid advice. And it's advice that I give, when I teach extreme weather photography classes and such, you know, if you see something cool, you know, don't search for a foreground, you know, don't, you know, get out of the rain as was this case for me. You just got to take the shot because, you know, myself, I have blown plenty of opportunities where it's like, Oh, I'll just go a little further down the road. Maybe I'll find like a barn or a windmill or something. And no, and then the cool clouds are gone. So. Wow, and you had four you said you captured four tornadoes this past week Yep, so three were from this particular storm here. So I produced a quick needle tornado, then this one, and then one more, a brief tornado as I was uh going down the road and kind of watching it. The fourth one came the next, let's see, I'm not trying to think here. The next day, Tuesday, up by Eldora where a supercell fired and not yet. OK. Yeah. Actually, real quick here, let me find. Of my computer's not being quick right now. okay. Sometimes it's hard to... I'm still learning how to navigate with the module too. Is it in those tabs up there? Barn and Lightning? no, you know, let's go actually go through those. the, the, the, the Eldora storm, I saw the tornado, it was from afar. was, it was a multi vortex, but I still probably about 10 miles out. Cause it was still kind of in the developing phase, but you know, let's kind of, let's go through these here too, because these are very, so this was the same night as this one, just a little bit later. the storm course put on a beautiful, um you know, display of memontas and colors and such. But as I was starting the journey home, there was an isolated cell that kind of redeveloped to my north and it was a prolific lightning producer. mean, it basically looked like a disco strobe. And so I was going down the road. like, I'm thinking, okay, I'm going to stop and take some pics. Well, then of course, as I'm stopping, I eyeballed this little corn crib right here. It's like, aha. So pulled into that driveway and placed me basically the corn crib between myself and the storm. And this is exactly what I was looking for. Nice, you know, lightning lighting up the thunderhead. Also got a little horizontal lightning over here too. So that was just kind of the chef's kiss for that night there. Of course, comp, comp, comp if you can, right? Composition. So this was um the next day. This was taken by Independence, Iowa, which is kind of in Northeast Iowa again. And this was a tornado warned storm. um I don't believe it produced a tornado. It had not produced one at this point, but it was, it was really wrapped up on radar. It had a big old hail core, you know, that dropped some big old gnarly hail. You can kind of see all the greens and blues up here. Mm-hmm. And then, know, big, you know, I love tornadoes, but I also love structure a lot too. what I'm looking at. I love the color of the clouds and the structure in this one. Right. So yeah, actually the other rotation was right here in this kind of funny looking, I don't even know if you want to call that a wall cloud at that point, but that's where the rotation was. the lightning was pretty insane. There was Widowmaker lightning dropping all around me as I took this shot here. So then the next night, I ended up down in Eddyville, Iowa, which is in Southeast Iowa. And didn't see a ton, no tornadoes. The structure was just kind of meh. But as the storm, as I let the storm pass me, it just dropped this big old cool rainbow. And of course I found these silos right here. So, know, perfect. You know, I pulled in the driveway and this is 15 millimeters. I had to shoot wide because this rainbow, well, you can kind of see it over here. It's in the foreground ahead of these trees over here. Yeah. just right behind this silo. So yeah, it was raining here as well. And I actually had a few raindrops on the lens that I had to uh Photoshop out. no, beautiful color, nice bright rainbow. There is a second one here. A little dimmer, but yeah, a cool rainbow is always a good way to end a chase too. Well, dang, mean, you know, and it doesn't always have to be tornadoes, of course, right. People are always, you got to get a tornado. You got that as well. I actually thought that that tornado, I've seen a couple of other photos of that sunset tornado. To me, that was the best one. And then there was one a couple of days ago that's really beautiful. think Edgar also posted the storm chaser posted a photo. It was it looked kind of similar. It was a. was a cone, it had some really beautiful and Jacob McMillan also has some beautiful structure along the front edge there. And it was, that's the kind of stuff that I'm, I'm, that I go for anyway. Right. You know, and I think I tweeted this out, you know, either yesterday or day before that, you know, this week was, you know, it was successful. Yes. I got four tornadoes, which during a single week is really pretty good for anybody, for any chaser. But as a guy where I'm looking, I love the photography side of chasing and I love more than just tornadoes. I I love that lightning. I love the structure. You know, I just like the cool clouds basically. And From a photography perspective, this week was probably one of the best weeks that I've had in probably two or three years, quite honestly. And in April, no less. That's crazy. uh Right. You can be home and sleep in your own bed and not have to deal with ticks or bed bugs or anything. you know, pay for the hotel, all that good stuff. So it was low cost, high reward. That's how often does that happen. So. not very. Well, you said you've been chasing for so many years. Take us back a little bit. You know, I wanted to share those because you, you just had that smirk on your face, like a kid in a candy store. You scored and you got, you, you, you captured some really great shots, but it, it's more than the tornado. You, you are a kid in a candy store storm when you see so much more opportunities in the storm rather than just the tornado, just trying to get super close to it. There's so much more that's available, especially if you're a photographer looking to capture the beauty of nature's fury. You were able to get out there and do that, but take us back to when you first fell in love. Are you always, were you always a someone who was born and raised in Iowa or take us back then. Yep. I'm a born and raised in Iowa. I've been here all my 54 years. So in right here in central Iowa. So I was born and raised in a little town called Kellogg, which is east of Des Moines out by Newton, which is another pretty good sized town. born and raised on a farm out there. So I've always had an interest in weather, pretty much from way back when I can remember. I just always find weather fascinating, especially storms. I've always found fascinating. You know, when I remember growing up at home, know, mom would be down in the basement and my dad and I would be out at the front door. It's like, wow, look at that. And you hear mom yelling from the basement, get down here because there's a tornado or whatever. But it's like, no, I couldn't, I had to just see what was going on. Cause I just thought it was so fascinating and so cool. Actually my, it has been. Yep. And my actual, my very first tornado, um, I didn't start, start small with my first tornado. It was a 1986. So I would, would have been 16 at the time. And if I'm no, actually 14, sorry. And it was the Baxter Iowa F4 tornado. So it was a big tornado that it actually formed, um, you know, by Ankeny, which is north of Des Moines and Trek East. And Baxter is, uh, you know, just a tiny little town that was off to, you know, from where I lived off to the Northwest. And I remember, you know, you know, my dad and I, we, you know, stood at the end of our driveway. They're kind of at the edge of the cornfield uh and watched it, you know, forever and just, you know, fascinated. It was a big old stove. I remember it's very distinct. I wish I would have had a, you know, camera with me at the time, but it was a big old stovepipe tornado and it was just a big old gnarly thing. And, and it was, I remember it was a It was a late spring day. It was hot. It was humid. I mean, one of those days where you just knew that, you know, something big was going to pop and it did. it was far enough away you couldn't hear it. It was probably about five miles out from where we lived, but you had a very clear visual on it and, you you could see everything in detail. But I think that's probably where my fascination with tornadoes started with that one. Okay. And then from there, did what what inspired you to like, hey, I can actually not only am I in this region where we see these robust storms, but I want to I can actually pursue them instead of just waiting for them to come to me. How did you get into actual storm chasing or what what inspired you to actually say, hey, I want to learn how to. figure out where they're going to be so I can go to them and actually start chasing. Cause you've been doing this for a long time. Right. So I actually started probably chasing for real in the early 90s, you after I graduated from high school and from college. And then it was just, basically, you you pay attention to the weather forecast on TV. You listen to the weather forecast on the NOAA weather radio. And, you know, when a watch would come out, you I would start paying attention. And then, you know, when you heard the warnings off to my West, you know, start popping. Then you kind of head out and take a look and see what's going on. And back in the early days, I kind of wish I would have had a camera of any type with me back then, but I didn't. would just go and see what I could go see. That's exciting. so this is before twister days and everything. Did you just rely on maps yourself as well? Like, okay, you know, don't fold the maps. And you just had to kind of figure it out and navigate. being an Iowa boy, you know, travel a lot of county highways and gravel roads. You know, within my kind of local area, I knew it very well. But yeah, when I got further out from that, you you would rely on maps or, know, you just kind of go, you know, drive and figure out the territory. And of course, you know, this was pre-internet, pre-cell phone, you know. free, you know, you good data, you know, from the internet that you could readily get quickly. You know, there was a few times I would, you know, hit my friends up at the National Weather Service office and say, hey, you know, can I take a look at your 12 Z maps, you know, just real quick and see what's going on so I can figure out a target. So you had to do it yourself then, and then you just take off. And when did you start actually taking photos of it along your journey? So 2012 is when I kind of started the photography aspect of it. I still chase locally in the 2000s and the early 2010s. But my son was young then and really didn't want to go out and have something happen to me, then he wouldn't have a dad. So I didn't do a ton of chasing for a little bit. 2012, I really kind of picked it back up again. And that's when I got picked up a camera and give my wife credit because she was taking a photography class at the time. And we had picked up like a Nikon D3100 that she was using actually quite a bit for what she was doing. And then I kind of picked it up and started using it too when she wasn't using it. And I had her kind of tell me things that she learned in class. And then of course I would go online and You know, through Google and YouTube, you know, I found stuff and right. Yeah, yeah, she got me kick started for sure. And my photography knowledge and then I just kind of built on it from there. You know, I said, you know, a lot of online and of course, you're just getting out and shooting because practice does make perfect. Right. Definitely. So I've, you talk about Iowa a lot and I've driven through it a couple of times, but I did spend a few days going through it and then checking things out. The twister scene, I don't know how far you live from that, but where they filmed the video, the hill, Twister Hill, I think it's called on Google Maps even. I got to visit that and I did the read Timmer thing like, look at the tour. Of course it was blue skies, but I had my friend take a picture of me like right where Bill and Joe are like, it's because of you Joe. And I don't know how the, by the way, Twister mistake, but how would the mic be open, you know, open mic without anyways, they're talking and everybody else can hear. still love you Joe and all that good stuff and it's funny but you know from right from there by the way Anybody that travels through Iowa if you're a twister fan you really got to check it out because being there's it's a it's actually a really big hill there the rivers right there and There's this long hill. It's actually pretty big but just down the road is this little farm And if you look at if you look southwest on the map, there's a little little store called dirt road goat soap I don't know if you've ever heard of this place, but know exactly where it's at. They're great people. drove up, we're like, what's this? Cause I've heard good things about goat soap. And we drove up and it was a great family, by the way, I know it's a total aside, but really super, super wonderful family. let us in, showed us their goats and the baby goats. And the kids took us into the, you know, into their little area where they were actually making soap. And I ended up buying like $200 worth of goat soap. And it lasted quite a while, but it really, really does. does the job. It's actually really great. And I, I've actually reordered through their website. So there's a free plug, but check out dirt road goat soap. If you actually know where that's at and it's, it's on one of those dirt roads, you know, literally, like you said, Iowa has a lot of dirt roads. So We have a great road grid here, which is great for chasing. Yeah, a one mile by one mile grid, which is awesome. yeah, do. And gravel, I again, I was born and raised on gravel roads. I know how to navigate them very well, but we do have our share of level B roads. And yeah, when they're wet, yeah, stay off those because they're just like roads in Kansas after it gets wet. You're going to get stuck. When was the last time you got stuck on a chase? You're probably not going to believe this, but I never have. No, I believe that because there's a way to do it. You, if you see a dirt road and it's wet, chances are you don't go. Yeah. If, if you're on that gridded network and you're ahead of the storm and the storm is still approaching right from the West and you're East of it and it's a perfectly dry road, you know, you have to make sure that you get off those, those, those dirt roads before the storm moves in. But no, I totally see that. We'll kind of, we'll kind of. And it's just, you know, always being aware of your surroundings. And of course, you know, living here in Iowa, I'm very familiar, but even when I'm, you know, go to places that I'm not as familiar with, over time, you kind of learn how the roads are and what to expect and stuff. And yeah, you you stay ahead of the storm, you stay ahead of the, the horde of chasers. And, you know, as long as it's dry, you know, you can go, whether it's dirt or gravel. But yeah, once the rain catches up to you, then yeah, you gotta change your game plan a little bit. What kind of vehicle do you drive with you out on the chase? I have Toyota RAV4. you are just like so many others. The Rab or the Subi? Yep, 2020 and it's a hybrid even so I get good gas mileage. So the gasoline that hasn't broke the bank yet. Yeah, well and gas prices hopefully fingers crossed at this point are starting to come down Let's hope that they keep trending that way because i'm going to be out there on the plains in the next few weeks so I can't wait to get out there, but I will be bringing my toryota forerunner with me And you know very well forerunners are not gas uh Efficient, so especially with those ko2 tires those those 17s 16 miles of the gallon, but So since you've been chasing and then you started to get into the photography aspect of it, but can you share one of your most memorable experiences while chasing extreme weather? Maybe it was, I'm doing this for as long as I have. got quite a few of those. um But, you know, I would, as I was thinking about that question earlier, I'm probably going to choose a more recent one from last year, the Gary, South Dakota tornado day there in late June. You know, that one was, you know, there's sometimes once in a while you get a forecast when you look at it, you look at the model data. And you can just see it says, here, stupid. I mean, there's not a whole lot of thought that goes into it. And honestly, Gary, the Gary day was that kind of day. You know, he had a warm front, um, you know, to the triple point there in South Dakota. Um, you had, you know, big Cape, you know, know, great sheer kind of trough moving in, you know, it just screamed tornado day. So, you know, that, that's about a four and a half, five hour drive, you know, North, you know, for me. So, you know, I went up that day and, know, I was kind of on the, I hung on the Minnesota South Dakota line, you know, and basically just waited and then, you know, saw the storm pop in South Dakota. And then, you know, I just kind of, you know, drifted over there, got in position and, you know, and, you know, there was, you know, two main tornadoes, you know, got some nice, you know, photos of the first series. And then I kind of backed off a little bit and, you know, and then, you know, kind of waited to see what the storm was going to do because it was cycling after the first tornado. Mm-hmm. And then it dropped the second one, you know, which is the long lived, very picturesque, you know, Gary, know, tornado. It was like a 45 minute deal. Right. And I was probably two or three miles, you know, to the east, southeast of the storm. And I actually just stayed put there because, you know, not only did I have an incredible view of the tornado, I was close enough where I could hear it and I could see all the details. But I was also able to see some of the structure of the storm as well, because you what you don't see a lot of from that day is there were some pretty nice pancakes going on above that storm that, you know, that I cracked out the 15 millimeter lens and got some really nice photos. And also, too, that storm was probably one of the most prolific lightning CG producing storms. And I've seen quite a few in my day. But, know, that one was dropping some pretty wicked bolts and Um, and I got a couple with, um, the lightning and the tornado, um, which was pretty cool. And that's been kind of one of my bucket list shots I've been waiting to get for a long time. So I got that day. It was kind of interesting. was, um, probably parked a little too close to a cell phone tower. You know, that day I had a cell phone tower, probably about 20, 30 yards off to my, um, um, to my south, southeast. And I thought, eh, I'm probably far enough away from that thing, but, it got hit. couple times. And, you know, I didn't feel the static or anything like that. But it scared the bejesus out of me for sure when it happened because that's that was close. That's crazy. you know, I was talking with Shannon also, Shannon Bolesky, and she also said the same thing that Gary was her, her one of her most memorable experiences. And she talked about, she talked about also the story into the navigation, you know, that other people that she respected were going one way and she was like, no, I need to keep going in this direction. And then of course, everything popped out and and telling the story, you know, I'm sure that that's just as important to you to be able to experience the journey, right? I I talked about the dumb thing on my, above my window here, find joy in the journey, but you're always excited about that. And that's such an important element of you getting out, especially as a photographer, you're looking for more than just the tornado. Is the tornado the icing on the cake or is it the cake to you? I would say it's more of the icing on the cake for me. Of course, seeing the tornado, especially a photogenic one like Gary was, is always an awesome experience and as a photographer capturing that. But I'm just more about the tornado itself. We had like this week, there was tornadoes that were kind of rain wrapped and stuff. And that's not my jam. If you want to chase it and that's what you want to go after, that's cool. Go for it. But I would rather kind of sit back a little bit and see that, you know, that photogenic tube, you know, that, you know, those photogenic clouds. You know, I don't have to be in the teeth of the tornado per se to say that, yes, I had a successful chase. A successful chase to me is, you know, seeing the tornado, seeing the storm. And, you know, I don't have to be up in the storm's teeth. You know, I can be, you know, be back. and get those cool shots. And then when I have those cool shots, that's what I'm looking for. And that's what I call a successful chase for me. So so I mean it seems like there are there's a huge push right now you see The the biggest views the biggest likes and retweets and all that stuff You see that with you know, the people that are zero be metering and all that Have you found yourself you talked about the teeth of the tornado or the teeth of the storm? Have you found yourself? Nearly bit by the storm in all of your years of experience Or do you stay a very mitigated, know, do you keep your risk mitigated to, I always keep my risk mitigated, knowing that this passion is a very risky and a very dangerous one. Let's not mince words there because it is. And have I gotten into the teeth of a storm? yeah, plenty of times in my time, either on purpose or by, okay, the tornado or the storm change course and I was on this course. It's like, okay, it's caught up with me. Well, I guess we're gonna ride this thing out. Yeah. Um, you know, but, know, doing this for a long time, I always have the, you those escape routes in mind and, know, that sort of thing. But, um, but yeah, there's more than once and twice in three times that I've been, um, you know, within the circulation of a tornado. So yeah, I I've been there. little bit of pucker factor going at that time when that happens. I think it happens to all of us and it's tough, right? mean, storm chasing is not easy, especially, I mean, there's always something in front of you that you have to navigate, you have to, then your radar goes out or of course everybody has Starlink now, but you know, I mean, there are so many things that go into staying on top of the game so that you don't get hurt. but how do you mentally prepare yourself for the challenges? knowing that there's an element of danger there. You have to respect the storm because the second that you start disrespecting a storm, something not good is gonna happen to you. So I always go in with that mindset. I usually have my target picked out usually a day ahead of time, definitely the day of. And if it's an area I'm familiar with, I'm good to go. kind of like with here in Iowa this week. I didn't have to do a whole lot of prep of like what the road grid looks like. Right. Yep. And if I'm in a territory where I'm, you I don't know where I chase, but, know, I don't live there and, I'm not as familiar with it. You know, I will, you know, before initiation, you know, spend time on Google Maps and kind of looking at the road grid. It's like, okay, you know, this is what we have for highways. This is what we have for We have gravel roads here. Okay, we don't have gravel roads here. We got a one by one grid here. it's maybe like a 10 by 10 grid or whatever where I'm going. So I try to have a good idea of what I'm gonna be heading into once I'm in my target and then actively start chasing. So you mentally prepare, what about gear and all that stuff? is an essential thing that you take, an essential toolkit in your chase? So I have, of course, my camera bag and I have my two Nikon. equipment. Willard's like, I gotta take the cameras, man. I gotta have the camera stuff ready. safety equipment too, we'll get to that. But the camera gear, of course, I'm a Nikon guy. uh So yes, you can bash me. No, that's fine. But I have two cameras. So have a Nikon D850 and a Mirrorless Z7 II. And I just didn't go out and buy those at the same time. Mm-hmm. They're pricey. acquired through my collection over time. And the reason I do two cameras, and it's just a personal choice of mine is one camera, I have my 24 to 120 zoom on. And then my second one, have my 15 to 30 wide angle on. So I don't have to worry about changing lenses out in the field because you know, I've done that before. And if you're not careful, you can get a whole boatload of dirt on your sensor when it's windy and, that, you know, the storms are cranking. So it just makes it, you know, for me, it's a simpler thing. Um, of course, and I do have, you know, safety gear with me as well. mean, you know, I have a basic first aid kit, know, tourniquets, towels, course, know, toe strap and, you know, a little air compressor and, you know, know, in the, in the fix of flat, you know, know, tire, you know, in case I go run over a nail or something, you know, you know, so I have those with me as well. yeah, of course I do, streaming a little bit of streaming and a little bit of video. And of course you'll know what these are. Not the Osmos. moved everything but yeah have a whole bunch of them. Osmo, and I have the... like to thank you, Lori, for getting me on the Osmo bandwagon. I love these things. So I, so when I'm doing pictures, you know, I'll usually set up my, you one of my small tripod, all of the records and video, um, you know, for, either to do a time lapse or, you know, just to have in cases. cool storm or cool tornado or something. I do live stream as well. I have, I basically just stream with my iPhone here and live streaming is definitely not my focus. It's more of a, okay, if I get pointed in front of the tornado, cool. If not, well, I guess, you that's fine too. And it's more for, you know, so people who, you know, followed by him, my streaming platform on YouTube. you they can kind of see where I'm at and if there's any severe weather coming their way. I see there are a lot of people out there that's doing this now too. You've got the Freddie McKinnies and and I mean read and There's just way too many people to name I mean, it's just there are so many people that are live streaming My personal favorite. I really like Bryce and and Paige They're just they're just fun to watch and and I know Paige now. I've you know, I've met her a few times and They're just really great people too. it's also cool to, you know, honestly, I'm going to, I'm going to say I've really enjoyed Max velocities feed now, like a lot of times when I'm just busy, I can just watch Max and he's showing, you know, he's showing, Ryan and, and, and, and Bryce and Paige and a bunch of other people, but he's also on top of it. And it's, it's just, it's just kind of like, I hate to say it because it's, it's, he's putting out life-saving stuff as well, but it's good entertainment. mean, he makes it entertaining as well. And I know you have your Ryan Halls and there's just so many other people doing that on that end as well. I guess it's got to be hard to find what you really want to do and find your niche rather than chasing somebody else's success. So we haven't even talked about that. And I do about your awards. You've won quite a few awards year after year in different contests and stuff like that. Yeah, let's go into that. And then I'll ask some other questions about getting into the challenges and hardships of it all. Do you find yourself like, are you ever hard on yourself? Let me put it that way, because you have won awards and you had to have overcome a lot of stuff going like, are my photos OK? Are they good? Social media, sometimes they praise you. Sometimes it's brutal and you're like, This is a really great shot and social media says you suck basically based on like nobody you know clicking on it or whatever. It's such a really tough thing to do. How do you sort through it all? Yeah, social media is an interesting animal for sure. The algorithm, I mean, we're all at the mercy of the algorithm, unfortunately. And I have definitely not figured out the secret sauce to that. And you know what? That's fine. I enjoy putting my photos in occasional videos out there. And sometimes they take off and do well. And other times they're like, yeah, they're just kind of average or not so great. Mm-hmm. That didn't used to bother me, know, a few years ago, it's like, okay, why, you know, this photo is a banger. It looks great. I love it. You know, why isn't it getting any love out there? And, you know, I just kind of, you know, I finally came to the realization, it's like, I mean, you know, the algorithm, you know, you don't have a lot of control over. So, and it kind of, you know, dictates, you know, how far that goes out. And I know it kind of depends on people's attention spans, you know, too, which seem to be getting shorter and shorter by the day. So. but you also you you don't get involved in any of the drama either you don't jump in I don't see you, know dog piling on On certain things. Maybe you'll say something about you know, red light runners or whatever, but it's not like this is an opportunity to jump in and get lots of views and likes and or the algorithms like ooh negativity feed me see more and you just you know, you know that you can get in on that but It's not worth it just not my jam. mean, there's, especially before the storm season got active here, there's so much weather drama going on. And there always is in this community, which it's kind of unfortunate actually, because it doesn't have to be that way. Just go out and chase beautiful storms and have a good time and come back home safe. And that should be enough, but unfortunately it's not. But, know, for me, it's like, no, I don't have time for that. I mean, I'm 54 years old. I don't have time for that garbage. You know, I just want to get out there and see cool things and see cool storms and, you know, take pictures of them. and then, you know, mm-hmm. Yes, it was a great year. It was in Dark Side of the Moon was just coming out. So I'm wearing my Pink Floyd, the wall T-shirt today because and my Iron Maiden, my brand new Iron Maiden ball cap because I love Iron Maiden. But yeah, I'm an 80s rocker. I'm not going to lie. I love I love I love good heavy metal, good prog rock. But I don't I still listen to Hard Rock. mean, when I'm chasing my Sirius radio, it's turned either Octane or Turbo, one of the two. not not Ozzie's Boneyard or I listen to Boneyard occasionally as well, I seem to get, I don't know, Octane is probably on for like 60 % of the time. Well, you like octane because it's a lot heavier and it's got to keep you awake, I guess. Yes, exactly. How have you grown or changed as a photographer, as a storm chaser through your experiences? I've learned to be patient and not to force it. I kind of think early on in that 2012, 13, 14, 15, 16 timeframe, I was like, oh, I got to find this really cool foreground or I got to find this or I need to photograph that. it actually made the chasing for me kind of tougher because I was making mistakes. was trying to look for certain things that maybe weren't necessarily there you couldn't find. And I would miss. you know, like some structure shots or miss lightning or something like that. And, you know, so that, so once I finally kind of figured that out, it's like, okay, just, you know, don't force it. Just, you know, you, you know what you're doing, you know how to run a camera, you know what you're looking for, you know, just go find it. Don't force it. And you don't have a cool barn or a windmill or whatever, you know, in, in front of you, you know, You know, if you're just in an open field, but you've got an awesome storm in front of you, that's got an amazing structure or a tornado, you take the shot. You you just do it. And once I kind of figured out, you know, the method to the madness there, my chasing, you know, actually kind of, it got easier. I didn't feel like I was looking for things I couldn't find basically. like that. And you're the kind of photographer that seizes, like you said, you will seize the moment, not necessarily a composition. You'll take a great barn, and you're after those. But you'll also go for, hey, there's the moment right now. There's a storm. Maybe it's just a dirt road or just an open field. I always try to find it's so hard to be consistent with that, isn't it? Right. I always make the joke over here in Arizona because you know have your Michael Binsky shot right and Mike has You know this little slither of horizon But he captures these epic scale of the storms and his focus is on the storm Yeah, sometimes he does a little you know foreground and stuff, but he Primarily will focus on his time lapses and stuff and so he wants all as much bolt as much sky as he can get Right. I first started out like that. And then I started to see like the Sean Parker shot where you had this beautiful, you know, cactus or this budding, you know, organ type of cactus or something or a column. gosh. Okay, so Sean Parker has this like barrel type of cactus, you know in the foreground and it's budding It's gonna be beautiful purple and yellow flowers and then he's got this lightning and off in the distance and and it's three quarters for round and then sky and lightning off in the distance and I try to be somewhere in between both of those, know, it's not like I have to be but I try to get a little bit of both and it's really hard but fact the matter is you just have to What do I have here? you know, here I am. I have the view, which is the most important unobstructed view. But now can I find composition in time or do I just forgo say, well, I don't have a saguaro cactus in front of me. I have this ugly mesquite shrub, you know, and so I'm just going to have to make do. So let me at least get some elevation and get the lightning for me. Lightning striking the strike point is the goal. I need to see the lightning in the distance striking a tree, car, hopefully not a person, but the ground, know, whatever it is, but I need to see that orange glow on the bottom. And that's just important to me. That's what I really go for, especially out here in Arizona. So with you, you just kind of, you you just roll with whatever nature gives with you, because you're out there on the plains, but it's not flat. The plains aren't flat. definitely not flat. Like in Iowa this week, mean, everyone thinks Iowa is flat as a pancake. Well, it definitely is not. The northern northwest half or two thirds of Iowa is flat. But when you get like south of I-80, and then you get over in far eastern Iowa, as you're coming toward the Mississippi River, you're in that driftless region. Yeah, there's definitely rolling hills and other things going on over there. Well, what is, you know, there are a lot of people and I think that was when I first reached out to you, I forgot what you were you were commenting on, but it was it was a little bit of drama and you were I think you can you can you remind me over. to remember what I know what I've been commenting on probably most over the past couple of weeks is, you know, folks who are hyper focused on like models and SBC outlooks and, and, you know, they're, you know, you know, critiquing or, you know, analyzing every single new model run that comes out, you know, before a severe weather event. And sadly, I'm already seeing it for Thursday, you know, for Thursday's severe weather day. And I'm like, folks, overanalyzing every single model that comes out, you know, either every six hours or, if you're looking at your conductive models every hour, just stop, you know, go out, touch grass, go do something productive. The storm's not going to go anywhere. Your forecast honestly probably isn't going to change that much because it really can devolve, you know, into like almost like addiction type behavior, which unfortunately, you know, I've been in this community for a long, long time. And I have sadly seen chasers come and go who, you know, start out strong, but they, know, they, they, chase every cloud. They, you know, they're looking at models every six hours. They don't do anything else. They, they, you know, don't go outside or, or whatever. And then they, in a year or two, they flame out. And, you know, I've already kind of got a list in my head from, from X probably the next batch that that's going to happen to sadly. you know, and that's, that's tough talking to skip Talbot a few weeks ago on the podcast. You know, he talked about not, not never stopped chasing, but sometimes stopped chasing. And he was talking about that about, you know, and, skip was so skip was so honest about his own, you know, when you start busting and everybody else is winning and you keep missing. And he started to get desperate and going against his own advice from his videos that he shares with all of us to stay alive and stay safe and start getting into a place where he found himself losing his situational awareness. If skip can, if that can happen to skip, it can happen to all of us. And think that's the point that you and I were, we're starting to talk about is like, Hey, you know, the cams are going to come into agreement two, three days out. We're going to start to get a better feel for it, but try not to sweat. And look what ended up happening last week and the week before. Things totally changed. Everyone was saying it's going to be this multi-day, April, 2011 event and people are, right? and, and it was, you know, days in advance. I'm like, no, it's let's not be throwing that verbiage out there because that's not called for. Um, because, you know, storm chasers, you know, need to remember. And, you know, occasionally I have to remind myself of this when we post on social media. Um, yeah, we do have a lot, a lot of weather and storm chaser followers. Um, but we also have a lot of regular folks too. We sure do. us for either like my photography or they're looking for weather info or whatever that is. And when the regular folks start seeing that, it's just not a good thing because people, a lot of people remember what happened in 2011. a lot of people are scared to death of storms and it just, doesn't, nobody any good to do that. Someone just did that the other day where they fear casted. don't know, Hunter had to, I won't say his name, but he has two first letters of a, he has two letters in his first name that he uses online. And I won't say it because everybody knows who he is. Apparently he's got flashies everywhere and blasts everybody and films people in their worst moments and tough time. But the of the matter is people were worried and he got a lot of people scared and nothing ended up very minimally transpired on that day. other people were like, please don't do that. Fear casting is not what, just like you said, there are people who follow us. It's not just storm chasing. And even then, just try to be responsible with what you're saying. It's important. Because, you know, when we, you know, what I like to do is, know, on the day of a chase, I will put out, you know, you know, the SBC map and I'll kind of put out some of my comments of, you know, this is where severe weather is going to be. I'm going to be chasing in this area. Always be prepared, you know, multiple ways to receive warnings, that sort of thing. That is directed at all my non-chasing friends who follow me on social media. And I can guarantee you, I mean, on my X platform, is where I have my biggest following. Probably 90 % of those people are just regular everyday folks. Either they want to see my cool pics or they want to see my insights on the weather. And when I post weather stuff, it's for them. It's not for the storm chasers. I know storm chasers see it and that's fine, but it's not for them. You know, Willard, you bring up a good point too. And I think it's important. Fact of the matter is I've grown so many different accounts. My Instagram is where I'm happy with the size of my Instagram account and I'm trying to give it some more love. I personally don't like Instagrams. It's not very user friendly to me and in the desktop version, it's just not intuitive to me. I really need something that's a little easier. So it's kind of a slog to get through it, but it's worth it because people follow me there as well. People who appreciate my wisdom or whatever it is they think I have and my photography and all that good stuff. So I try to be there as well. But you bring up a good point is that I try to make, I know how to grow an account if I really want to. can really do the, you know, we all do, we all kind of have that idea. But one thing that I think the storm chasing community makes One mistake that I think they make a lot, and you probably would agree with this, is they hyper-focus on weather lingo, on weather community. It's almost weather speak, right? And so other people that are trying to follow or might be interested in follow, and I'm saying all of this so that people can grow their accounts, so they can get more likes and more follows and have their work appreciated on a larger scale. If you're just talking about meteorological terms and forecasting and showing models. You are not reaching everybody. Try to open up your language and try to keep it simple to, for those of you that want to grow your account, try to reach other people beyond the weather community. If you start doing that and are intentional about, hey everybody, thanks for this and that, and I'm just a normal person, show who you are as a person, right? And then, And just be yourself, be authentic. You're gonna grow your account a lot faster than you sitting there wondering like, why is nobody, why am I just getting the same talk back from and comments from the same people that I follow? Well, it's not, the weather community is really not as big as we tend to think it is as far as on a social media scale. Yeah, we think we're a large community and I mean there are a lot of us out there. But I mean when it comes to just social media in general, we are the minority for sure. There's a lot more other just regular folks out there that are looking for genuine weather content or they want to know what's going to happen today or tomorrow. Because they're living their lives too and they want to plan accordingly for it. they don't have a lot of time, so they want to see your pretty photos. They want something that they're going to be able to, that's palatable for them in a very short amount of time. I remember Willard's photos. He's got some really great, beautiful photos this week. But he also mentioned that I might, you know, we might need to wrap things up on Wednesday because of, you know, and so instead of taking the kids out on the picnic that day or whatever. And then, and then Willard talked about his, how he won this contest. This is great. You know, I get to interact with him more. And why is he winning this contest? He's sharing his personal life with us as well. And it keeps people coming back for more. Speaking of, you did win a contest, it just a few months ago? When was, what was the, was that a state championship? Tell me a little about that contest you entered. Let's see, so I think the last, yeah, you know, the Iowa State Fair has a photography salon and it's one of the better photography salons in the nation, you when it comes to like state fairs, it's very competitive. There's a lot of, awesome photographers that, you know, submit photos and it's just not weather photos. It's just, you know, photo, all photos. Mm-hmm. And, you know, and I have, you know, placed very well in that contest, you know, a few times. I think two years ago is where I actually won first place in the, I think was the USA landscapes division. I don't recall, unfortunately, which photo it was, but, but, but yeah, that's a contest that, you know, I enjoy, from the national storm chaser summit. You know, I was, you know, there, know, photographer of the year, two years ago and, know, and that was extremely cool. And, you know, I was very honored and very humbled to, you know, you know, get that nod and recognition. you know, know, people, you know, we, do like, you know, the recognition. We'd like to be recognized by our peers. Um, if, know, it's something that, you know, I mean, obviously I enter contests. So, you know, I look for that for time to time, but, know, it's, you know, not what I'm all about. Um, I enjoy the recognition I get from. my customers, you because I do sell prints and such of, you know, my, you know, storm photos and night skies photos and getting, you know, the appreciation from them, you know, that's where for me it counts. Yes, don't get me wrong, getting recognized by my peers is pretty awesome too. uh And like, you know, getting the storm chaser of the year a couple of years ago, that was a pretty humbling experience for me. I'm like, wow, people actually do like my stuff and see what I'm putting out there. That's great. And the fact of the matter is, it is a great feeling when someone buys a copy of your print and they show you, hey, Willard, check out your photo is on my wall over here. That's, I mean, come on, man. For me, that's, you know, when I was doing portrait photography and family pictures and stuff, I saw one person did a, gosh, it was like a, they owned a really big home and a really large living room. And they did like, I don't know, it like a five foot by seven foot of this family, you know, photo that I took of them and she's like, look, Lori, and she took a picture of it on the wall, fully framed and in all its glory. And I was just like, holy moly. I took that massive, that's the centerpiece of their home because that's what they focus on is family and they love it each and every day. And she would show me, she would tell me that that really, really meant, meant the world to me. That was an accomplishment, accomplishment that I'm super proud of. And I've had that over and over and it's, That's my trophy. You I don't have crap for trophies from awards or anything on my whatever, you know, I've been published and I've got this and I've got that. But honestly, that doesn't mean much to me. It does. It's it's great. The validation is good. know. image and it's not an AI photo that they're commenting on on Facebook or something, but they see your work and they just acknowledge that little bit of acknowledgement is such a great feeling, don't you think? a huge deal and I appreciate my customers very much. know, that they spend their hard, know, choose to spend their hard earned money on, you know, one of my photos. You I have a similar story too where I sold a, I think it was like a three foot by four foot canvas. It was a giant canvas print of, know, of a farm, you know, nice structure, beautiful colors, you know, over an Iowa farm field. farmstead off in the distance in just amazing sky. It was actually a canvas print. they, know, kind of like, you know, with your story, you know, they bought it and I actually delivered it in person. They live in Omaha, which is only like an hour and a half away from here. So I delivered it in person. And yeah, it's a mainstay in their living room. And it is so awesome to, you to see any size of my print, you know, hanging on a wall, but especially one that size where it's kind of the centerpiece of the room is pretty special. Would you, you've managed to keep, you know, a positive attitude through all the years and all the failures and the failure modes and missing storms and busting. But what is, is there any advice you would give to someone, you know, facing their own challenges or hardships, especially if they want to do even the photography aspect. It's daunting. Most people right now, I know a lot of chasers that just chase with the go pros and this and that and their phones, but not too many people are getting into. photography or if they are, it's not easy to start no matter even with the new gear that's a lot easier to use than it used to be. You know, what's your advice to anybody who might be facing their own challenges? It might not even be storm chasing. I would first, from the storm chasing realm, don't follow the never stop chasing mantra. I have never accepted, never followed that mantra. And I know some folks do, and that's fine. They want to go do that. But I have a life outside of storm chasing. I have a full-time job. I have a very successful IT career. I'm a network engineer. It's what pays the bills. right. Amen. health insurance and all that good stuff. And it actually kind of helps keep me grounded. So I'm not out there chasing every single cloud, every single setup. And by not chasing all that, I don't get burned out. And it helps me to appreciate when I do go out. Kind of in the storm chase community, it seemed like with some folks, you know, having a full-time job is a sin. It is definitely not. It is something that I would encourage everybody to do because you you do have to pay the bills and you know, someone say, well, you're not living the dream. Well, I strongly disagree with that. I am living the dream because I chase, I mean, my job has flexibility, which I'm very thankful for. And you know, also, you know, like I said, keeps a roof over my head, but It helps me when I do go chase. I think it makes me a better chaser because when I'm going out there, I'm having a time of my life. I'm having fun. I'm executing well. And I'm always, well, almost always seeing cool stuff. Now, are there times I still bust? You betcha. You know, we all do. Don't let any storm chaser kid you. They think they see something every time. No, they don't. And I'm the same way. But, By keeping myself grounded the way I have, I haven't burned myself out and I don't think I will burn myself out. And I still see lots of cool storms. I am going to be retiring in four years. As soon as I hit 59 and a half, I'm going to probably semi-retire, to be honest. And I will chase probably a lot more in that April, May, June, July timeframe. the rest of the year probably do like become like a network engineer on contract. So I can pay for my own health insurance because daddy that's going to be expensive when I get to that point. um That's really great. You the fact that I love what you said, that you are chasing your dreams and you're able to put a roof over the head and pay for the bills and the upkeep and the family. And that's so essential. And I think that we don't talk about that. We don't talk about that enough. And I think people are afraid to talk about that because you know, if you want to go out and do that grind, then you know, that is your prerogative. You know, that's your choice. Where, know, thankfully we live in a country where we can go out and do that. But the advice that I try to give, especially some of my younger friends, my younger storm chasing friends is, you know, if you want to chase full time, you definitely go out and give it a try, but have a contingency plan in place because, you know, things happen. The handful of people that do storm chase full time, my hat's off to them because they're doing a hell of a good job. But I also know that, let's not kid ourselves, there's a lot of sacrifice that goes into that too with family time and other things. And not everybody's cut out for that. And I think, kind like we talked about earlier where I've seen some storm chasers, they start strong, they do great for a couple of years. And then they just kind of disappear off of social media into obscurity and you never hear from them again. the reason for that is that they burn themselves out. You know, they tried to, you know, go out and do too much and they burned out mentally and physically. They're probably horribly in debt, which is another thing that I try to strongly encourage my younger friends is do not go into debt. you know, do not go horribly in the credit card debt for it because yeah, you have to pay credit card debt back. That's just not a, that's not free money. There's a time and place when you have to pay all that back. And I mean, yeah, chasing every cloud and chasing every storm, does sound kind of cool, but unfortunately too many people, you know, burn themselves out doing it. You got to find that balance and... And even for me, it took a while to find that balance, know, to find an awesome job where I've got a little bit more flexibility that, you know, probably lets me chase a little bit more than, you other people can. And, you I mean, like I said, I'm 54. It took a long time to find that, but I found it. And I still consider that I'm living the dream, because I really am, because I love what I do. I love that. Sounds like you live a life of gratitude. And I love to hear that. And I hope that some of these these younger folks, the younger generation that are that are that are especially that are going into deep into debt. By the way, like I've now seen when I was in college, I remember seeing the APR for for credit cards was, you know, they were giving me zero percent, but then it was 12 percent, 18 percent. think 19 percent was like, man, I think I'd rather go see Tony Soprano for a loan at this point. And now it's 29 % 32 % is or what some of these credit card that's ridiculous This nation needs to rise up against that I'm probably gonna get canceled for that someone's gonna come knocking on my door for that But it's horse crap man that credit card rates 30 something percent for you will never Unbit, know, you will never get out of that debt if you're just paying minimums never at 30 % way too many of, not only Chaser friends, but just friends in general who get deep into debt. I'm very thankful. We have zero credit card debt, other than the streaming bills that come on, put on each month, which we immediately pay off. But unfortunately, my wife and I, we're kind of in the minority there of being in that situation. And it is kind of sad. And I'm a big proponent and I've occasionally tweeted about this. It's like, you know, be financially responsible. And if you don't know how, then there are tons of resources online, you know, where you can learn financial responsibility, because you really need to, because credit cards are not free money. know, there's all these online, you know, places where you can get loans. That's not free money. You know, the old saying that, you know, nothing's for free is very true. on. Let me text my wife. So you were saying, yeah, nothing's for free, that's for sure. No, and that's where you're having that good financial literacy. And I'm trying to in on my young friends here. It's like, if you didn't learn it in school, which I think they should, where my son teaches up in Madrid, they teach financial literacy. And that's good. I'm very happy about that. But not every school does. And it's like, if your school doesn't, there are so many places that you can learn it online and with between, just go do some Google searches. You know, fire up your chat GPT AI. I'm sure it'll probably give you some though. Take it with a grain of salt though. The AI stuff is not all it's cracked up to be. And there's all kinds of YouTube videos out there. You know, you got the Dave Ramsey's of the world and others and the info is out there. Caleb hammer is great by the way is a great hour and a half to our podcast and I watched almost I'm starting to watch like the whole thing now just because he just does not stop Yeah, he's brutal, but you know, he's giving solid advice to though He's trying to get people on track and they don't listen. So he just goes off Right. And some people need to have that, you know, brutal, honest conversation. true. Except for the personal stuff. think he goes little too deep in the making fun of a girl's arm hair or whatever. Like whatever, dude. What is it? Don't throw stones in glass houses or whatever. But yeah. But Willard, let's wrap things up. That's a lot of a ton of advice talking about resilience, talking about chasing your passion. and chasing responsibly, financially. I love all of the stuff that you, I knew you would have it in you. I knew we just, we just had to get you out of the podcast to share. And it really is the people who are already looking for that advice, they're going to listen. The people that don't, they're going to go, you can't tell me anything. And you know, just like Jason Persoff said, Dr. Persoff, he was like, you're right. I can't tell you to chase safer. can't, I can't prove, you know, I can't force you to chase safer. I can't force you to chase a little further out or be more intentional in your chase. You're not going to listen if you don't want to listen. So the people that want to listen, they might. And if they do want to listen, I am more than happy to be a mentor, you know, either a photography mentor or a storm chasing mentor. I love, you know, sharing my experiences and, you know, and sharing what I've learned over the years. And yeah, if you're open and you want to, you know, come talk to me, I mean, I'm an open book. you see me out in the field or, you you want to reach out and DM me on, on Instant Messenger or Facebook or X or whatever. My DMs are always open and I will take time to talk to you and explain some things. I love that and with that, let's just take a look at these images that you told me were super important. They had special meaning to you. What is this ball here? Now, of course, everybody knows what it is, but tell us a little bit about it. That was the solar eclipse a couple April's ago. I was down in southern Illinois in the path of totality for that one. And I wanted to, my dream shot of mine is capturing the corona around the sun and the moon during the total solar eclipse. So I actually brought my astrophotography tracker and my camera and long lens and I set it all up. And I actually had software running on my laptop where it basically, took total control of the camera and it did all the shots for like two hours. And during the totality phase, it ran through a specific series of shots with different aperture and different shutter and all that. So what that did is it let me enjoy the solar eclipse. I could hear my camera off to the side going click, click, click, click, I knew it was doing its thing, but I was just sitting there enjoying the moment and it was a moment. cool. Is it true? Is it as amazing as everybody says? Everybody tells me, Lori, you've seen tornadoes and stuff, but you know nothing until you've seen an aurora like this, the solar. Is it not aurora? I'm sorry, a solar eclipse, know. Oops, sorry. is a, you don't, we don't see these every day. We were very fortunate. We had two within a here in the U S within a relatively short period of time. But yeah, I mean, seeing, you know, experiencing the darkness. Um, and when you have twilight all around you and you, you, you hear like all the different, like the birds, you know, Wow. Yeah. you know, like the cattle, you know, they actually went back to the barn because they thought it was nighttime. The temperature drops. mean, it is just a sensation of the senses is how I would put it. I can imagine. I love this shot. You got a little bit of a rainbow in here too. Most people can't really tell, but. this was on the Kansas-Nebraska border here in 23, I believe. And yeah, it was at sunset, obviously. Got a little bit of a rainbow going there. And just a big gnarly, know, lightning bolt. You got the CG and then you got kind of the spider uh going off into the sky there. And I'm a sucker for gold hour when it comes to photography. And this was, you know, it was a pretty fun storm to watch. It produced a lot of lightning. And then, and then, I just had the camera set up and it was doing its thing. Yeah, the rainbow was, know, you know, the chef's kiss there for that. I wish it was a little brighter, but I still have a rainbow nevertheless. Yeah, that's kind of my specialty. I go for, I shoot, I will keep driving and miss some big bolts to try and get lightning and rainbow because it's delicious. What do we got here? So we've had some pretty awesome solar storms here the past couple of years. This is what's called the corona. It's basically when the aurora is overhead. And this was shot uh not too far from where I live here in Iowa, up by a place called Brushy Creek, which is south of Fort Dodge. And having overhead aurora in Iowa is a very special thing. It does not happen very often. 99 out of 100 times your Aurora and I was on the horizon. But since this was a G5 storm, the strongest geomagnetic storm you can get, we had Aurora overhead. And yeah, I just had to point the camera straight up and that's a shot I've been waiting for for a long time as well. And I got that night. Yeah. What an awesome shot. I love this thought store. This is the kind of vantage. it is Gary. Yeah, this is, yeah, when it was in a kind of, you know, big monster, you know, tube here going on. And of course, know, you know, Torino is cool, but I love, you I've got, you know, nice foreground, cool clouds, you get color from sunset off to the left there. It's just a very nice composition that I love. And, you know, that's why, know, like I said, I was a mile or two, you away from the tornado. I wasn't up in its teeth, but this is why I like shooting like this because you can get so much more detail of the sky and such, and that's what I like. I love that this little slither here is a different color than the rest of the grass. And then you have multiple um horizons here, multiple foregrounds here. And then you've got the tree line. Then you've got the Windows XP hip rolling hills in it back in here. And then you've got just this beautiful tube with the clouds spinning into it. I was going to be like, OK, hey, I see a hot pixel over here. Willard. Oh, I've got a spot over here. should know. I should, I'm being hypocritical and I'm being jok- I'm joking because this is a great shot. I'm being, that's me being like, when I'm going through my photos, I'm like, crap, I missed it. Nobody else in the world will see that. I think it's a beautiful shot. So don't listen to me. I'm just being a dumb critic that I wasn't there. Yeah. fine. That's hilarious. I love this shot because I know how hard this shot is to even get any kind of slither of lightning when you're shooting wide open to capture the Milky Way. Yeah. So this was a, this was, I think in 2018, this was a September shot and a buddy of mine, Kevin Scow, who works up at the national weather service office in lacrosse. Now we were chasing together this day, you know, here in central Iowa and we were on our way back home and there was this big old supercell. The supercell was down in, um, uh, Missouri, like Northern Missouri. And we were on highway 34, which is in this. Southern Iowa, it's the second tier of counties up and we were east of Osceola. And we saw this storm doing the whole strobe thing, lots of lightning and stuff. Kevin and kind of looked at each other, it's like, we should stop for a little bit here, maybe shoot for sprites. Because that was kind of our initial thought. And I'm like, yeah, okay, cool. I'm down with that. So we pulled off on a gravel road and set up kind of in a bean field there. And as we were setting up, I realized that, okay, it's early September. There's no moonlight out at all. The galactic core is out. And I told Kevin this, he's like, yeah. So started shooting and yeah, I had to be very careful here because there were some kind of bright lightning, even though that storm was quite a ways away. um could blow out your shot if you're not careful. So I actually, that is at F32. So I'm not quite wide open. I'm pretty open, but not wide open. And that was right. And I think I ran ISO 1600 and we were shooting, or I was shooting at eight second exposure. So, and yeah, I just let it run. Never did get any sprites that night, but got some very nice Milky Way core action with that supercell. Heck yeah, I love it. you know, you just, every shot that you've shared, you've talked about, there's a personal significance, even the first ones that you shared at the beginning of the podcast. And I think that's what it's all about, right? It's keeping the passion alive by making sure that the chase is significant, that everything we do is intentional and significant, and fighting through the kind of the stuff that you feel is gonna break you and not burning out. Everything that you've talked about is so pragmatic. that's your name for me. Willard Sharp, the pragmatic chaser. That sounds dumb and it just sounds dumb, but. one final word of advice for our, especially for our young chasers out there. You know, that I actually still do today is when I have a chase that doesn't go right or a forecast that doesn't execute well or whatever it is. I'm old school. I have a notebook that I carry in my chase vehicle and I always write down the mileage on it in that notebook, every single chase. But when I have a chase that doesn't go to my expectations, I actually write down, okay, this is what I was still planning for. This is where my target was and it didn't work out. And here's why I think, and I will write down, okay, I think it didn't work because of this, this, and this. And actually, you're writing those thoughts down, at least for me, helps them kind of stick in my brain. So next time I go to execute a forecast and a chase, I can keep those in the back. They're still in the back of my noggin here. And, and it actually helps me. It's helped me over the years chase better. I love that. And it's a perfect way to end it because in law enforcement, you know what we call that? An after action report. You know, what went right, what went wrong and how can we learn by this? How can best practices all that kind I know it sounds businessy or copy or whatever, what do you want to call it? But the of the matter is again, that's being pragmatic again. Sorry. That sounds so, so lame. I'm the pragmatic storm chaser. No, no, no. That's, that's good. It means longevity. means, it means, you know, It means you can enjoy doing what you're doing. means you can pay the bills. It means you can be responsible. It's not a diss in any sort of the way, but it's fact of the matter is I'm so glad that I had a chance to talk to you, because I do think that people that are willing to listen, they can really gain a lot by listening in on this podcast, especially some of the advice that you've given. What's on your current bucket list? We can end that with that. What's your bucket list right now? Your next shot that you really want to get. I have yet to get a blue jet out of a thunderstorm. That is, I've gotten sprites, but I have not gotten the blue jet. So that is still one of the very few things that's left on my bucket list to get done. I've captured blue jets and they're fun, but they're not easy. That's for sure. And I didn't even know. I just remember like, was getting the video that I never released on me capturing blue jets. was like, all you see on the video, like the blue jets happen and I'm not even paying attention because I'm just sitting there cursing. I'm stupid because of the mosquitoes. I was, there was a tirade Willard and I went back and I was like, my gosh, did I really go that far into the... And I was like, I cannot release that. So I ended up the video I did share, I nixed all the cursing because I was so mad at the mosquitoes just chomping down at me. And I was like, this sucks. And I went home and I loaded the video onto the computer. was like, there's blue chats and just... It's out of this world. Good luck on that. hope you do. I do hope that you can get some blue jets and some more amazing images. I can't wait to see what you're going to capture this year. Sorry. The season has just begun, so there's plenty of time for you to get up. definitely looking forward to the rest of season. It's been a strong start and yeah, I can't wait to see what the rest of spring and summer bring. Absolutely, and I hope I see you out there later on that know in the season I'll be out there as much as I can and I hope to meet you in person You're you've always been just such a just such an awesome supportive amazing person and I hope other people get to Get to know you like like I know you and thanks again Willard for coming on what it by the way You didn't you didn't share this on the podcast. What is all this cool stuff behind you? So, I'm gonna turn here, I'm gonna lean back. So I got my rock and mineral collection here. I have a, you know, I'm a rock hound as well. So I tumble stones and I look for minerals, I buy minerals. So when we bought this new house here this past fall, it had this cool little bookcase here that I thought that would be a perfect place to put a lot of my mineral collections. So I got my mineral collection there. then of course I got my. rigged in there and everything. lamp up there and stuff. And on that thing that, you know, where you can kind of see like a silhouette of a cat that's just got a bunch of polished stones in it, you know, just to the left of the lightning and cloud there. So. Did you buy those or find those? Um, a little both. Yep. You know, there's a lot of polished stones that I found, but you know, like I I know I go to rock shows and stuff like that, you know, especially in the fall. And you know, look, I basically look for minerals that I don't have, you know, has the station or the nation's largest gem and mineral show. So Tucson, Arizona, man, the downtown is just chaos. It's crazy. like, what are all you guys, you rock lovers doing here? This is crazy. I can't even drive through town. is silly, but no, people love it. So I'm not going to knock it. Well, Willard, it's been great. Thanks a lot for coming on. And how can people find your socials? So I'm on X, Facebook, Instagram, and I have a webpage too. if you search for either Willard Sharp WX or Willard Sharp Photography on all the major socials, you can find me there. And you can find me at willardsharpphotography.com. There you go. Everybody willard sharp photography dot com. Willard, it's been great. Thanks again for coming on to the show. Yep, thanks for having me, Laurie. And had a great time tonight. People like Willard sharing this good stuff has been just such a blessing to me and it's enriching for me too. So we'll catch you on the next one. Take care, everybody, and chase safely. Take care, everyone.