Great storm photography by Ryan McGinnis. I’ve always been in awe of the power and beauty these super cells produce…and also, the brave photographers which risk their well-being to capture these images.
May 26th, 2006 — the lead edge of a squall line is just about to pass overhead. We’d driven through rain and hail for a good half hour to finally get ahead of it, but the sunlight was failing and we only had a sliver of time left to take pictures and shoot video. As chasers, we’re usually on the lookout for supercells — large, rotating storms that can produce tornadoes. But the truth is that some of the most visually impressive storms are squall lines, which are long (sometime hundreds of miles long) lines of storms that roll across the great plains. They rarely produce tornadoes, but they certainly can kick up a heavy wind — over 80 miles per hour, in some cases. And they can look like the End of the World as they roll in.
Be very careful! Ryan McGinnis is suing anybody and everybody that is using his photos, regardless of whether you give him credit. He will find you, and you will pay tens of thousands of dollars just for this one photograph. Do yourself a big favor: remove all photos for which you do not have written permission from the owner to display. The photography business is in the toilet, and litigation appears to be the best way photo pros can make money anymore.