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.
West Virginia's storm season doesn't really begin until about mid-April, but March typically brings one or two small displays of lightning to the state. A strong cold front brought one such event to our area on Friday evening, March 15.
Strong, gradually weakening cells in eastern Kentucky and Ohio slowly moved northeast into West Virginia at sunset, bringing mostly intracloud lightning flashes and soft rumbles of thunder to most of the eastern half of the state. The storms brought heavy rains that obscured most of the lightning channels, making them unworthy for any attempts at photography. Moreover, the cells were losing steam as they moved east into the mountains, and by 8:00pm there wasn't much lightning left in them.
Nonetheless, I stood out in Spring Hill Cemetery on an access road with the camera set up and ready to shoot, fighting the wind and rain with the large umbrella - almost at the expense of my camera. The quick-mount shoe on the camera was loose, so I took it off of the tripod and tightened it. Then, in the darkness, I re-mounted it sideways on the tripod by accident, leaving no latch to hold it. As soon as I let go of the camera, it dove to the pavement with a sickening crack.
I picked it up expecting the worst. But the shutter still opened and closed just fine, and I could still see clearly through the lens. After I was inside, I could see that the edge of the lens took the impact with the road, jarring the focusing mechanism slightly out of alignment and making turning the mechanism difficult - but it still works. What a relief.
After the camera mishap, I packed up and went inside. I opened the windows in the house, and enjoyed the rest of the evening with the relaxing sounds of a fading pre-spring evening storm moving overhead.
Below: A March thunderstorm claims the season's first equipment casualty
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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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