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.
Thanks to learning from past mistakes, better/faster lenses, and last but not least, very cooperative slow-moving, long-lived tornadoes, this is the first season where I've had marked success with capturing clear, sharp still images of tornadoes. I have resisted the temptation to post rushed versions of these to the final photo gallery, instead waiting until I could give each one the attention it needs in the realm of post-processing. There will be more to come as I get each image's gallery web page built, but for now, here's the first installment (click on each image for a full-screen view):
The May 28 Bennington, Kansas tornado in a wide cone stage, shot on the Canon 50mm 1.8 lens:
The second May 18 Rozel/Sanford, Kansas tornado in a 'drill bit' stage at sunset. Shot vertical also on the Canon 50mm 1.8:
The Bennington tornado at very close range, shot at full wide (10mm) on the Canon 10-22mm lens:
The Rozel tornado's condensation fills in with a golden sunset backdrop, on the 50mm Canon 1.8:
A two-frame panorama stitch of the Bennington tornado and collar cloud, with the vault region of the storm visible on the left. Again, very close here - both frames are at full wide (10mm) on the Canon 10-22mm:
A wide-angle view of the second Rozel/Sanford tornado on May 18, with the Canon 10-22mm lens:
More to come!
Beautiful photos Dan. You had an exceptional year. - Posted by JM from BC, Canada
Thank you JM, yes this was definitely a season for the books. - Posted by Dan R. from New Baden, IL
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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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