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.
September is here, and with it comes some upgrades to my studio setup in preparation for a ramp-up in corporate web production work. Here is a shot of the humble Appalachian Skies studio room with two new Lowel Pro lights. Along with the Pros are the two Omnis (one softboxed, the other fitted with a diffusion gel for the hair light) and a softboxed Tota. The softboxes are the primary (high luminosity) key/fills, but the Pros can now play those roles if needed for a lower-luminosity scene (I ordered 250 watt bulbs for them). I'm planning on using the Pros mainly for background spotlighting and subject fills. If any of you have seen my interview for the CourtTV/TruTV 'Dangerous Drivers' show, that was lit entirely with Lowel Pros as key, fill and hair (in my living room, no less).
The new studio room is much wider and has higher ceilings than the last one, which greatly opens up the configuration possibilities. And no windows to worry about covering up to keep the bluish daylight out. The other major improvement is that there is also room for my desk in here, which means I can now capture video directly into my primary editing computer. A chroma-key background and teleprompter will be here tomorrow. I'm looking forward to experimenting with keying backgrounds, which should be fun - I'm mainly interested if I can key in white and/or black to avoid having to buy two more backdrops in those colors.
Again, a big thanks to my friend and business associate Paul Helmick for accommodating the arrangement for the space!
Web Site Design and Internet Marketing by CIS Internet
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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