In September of 2025, my work is generating the most income it ever has in my career. Yet, I'm being forced to shut down my successul operation, against my will, due to one cause alone: 95% of that revenue is being stolen by piracy and copyright infringement. I've lost more than $1 million to copyright infringement in the last 15 years, and it's finally brought an end to my professional storm chasing operation. Do not be misled by the lies of infringers, anti-copyright activists and organized piracy cartels. This page is a detailed, evidenced account of my battle I had to undertake to just barely stay in business, and eventually could not overcome. It's a problem faced by all of my colleagues and most other creators in the field.
I've been doing some comparison shopping for a couple of new lights that I hope to add to my gear in the next few months. I came across this one that I'm pretty sure is not going to be in my kit anytime soon:
Granted, you're getting an 18,000 watt light - but that's $16,000 for the light alone. They don't even throw in the barn doors or stand for that price. And oh yeah, one other thing - you need the ballast to operate this, which will cost you another $17,000.
Fortunately, at just over $400 (with barndoors), the Arri 650 I have my eye on is just a tad more affordable. Even so it's going to take a few jobs to get there. I could simply go with another Lowel Omni, but a good fresnel light like an Arri would be more ideal. As for the softbox quest, Chimera makes an adapter that will make a softbox fit on my Tota lights, but an entire Rifa fixture is much less than a Chimera/Tota setup.
The Lowel kit I have now was more of a stopgap to get through this first batch of shoots, but it is lacking in a controllable key and fill with the Totas/umbrellas. I'm going to run into problems with the Totas the first time I have to shoot in a small room, as there will be no way to keep the light from spilling all over everything. I may keep one Tota as a backup, but eventually would like to have a pair of softboxes or a softbox/fresnel combo to replace them. It's all going to come down to what I can afford and if business can keep up its current pace. The initial downside to buying lights is that they tend to hold their value well, so you don't get much of a deal on used ones. This is good if I ever have to sell them, but it makes the initial acquisition more painful on the wallet.
So why all the talk about lights? Many veterans in the business consider lights to be just as important, if not more, that the camera you use. Unfortunately a good lighting setup can cost more than a camera, and many freelancers end up having more invested in lights than cameras.
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From Dan: Please Read
To my regular readers, I offer my apologies for this heavy-handed notice. Unfortunately it has become necessary, so please bear with me!
Please don't copy/upload this site's content to social media or other web sites. Those copies have been a critical problem for me, seriously harming this site and my photography/storm chasing operation by diverting traffic, viewers, engagement and income. "Credit" and "exposure" does not benefit this site or my operation, rather they threaten my ability to cover my operating expenses. Please read my full explanation for this notice here.
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