My first tornado shoot...and hopefully my last

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

11/18/2006 09:14:56 AM · #1

It's was a rainy Saturday here in Okinawa Japan, so I'm just chillin talking to my wife on the phone wishing the rain would stop. Suddenly without warning the power goes out and since I'm talking to her via vonage and the internet, the call drops.

As I'm wondering why the power is out, I wander to my east facing window and look out over the ocean. I can hear a noise getting louder and louder but figured it was the air conditioning system outside my window, pretty soon however, I realize it just doesn't sound right for the air conditioners. As I turn and look down our barracks to the south I notice a large rain band coming past our barracks (I'm way at the other end, thank God) and think how strange it looks.

All of a sudden I notice huge amounts of debries flying around, so I grab my camera that is still sitting on it's tripod from earlier and I snap off a picture, but didn't open the window so it sucks. As I try and get the camera off the tripod and open the window I notice a door to a HMMWV (hummer for all you rich folks j/k) flying through the air being spun around and around. I get the camera ready again but the door is gone and now there are large limbs flying by, I quickly take a couple shots but miss the limbs. I continued shooting as it moved out to sea and disappeared. I went outside to see some of the debreis left but really didn't notice anything in my immediate area so I just retured to my room.

A little later while talking to a coworker, who was up near the tornado when it landed, I found out that cars had actually been thrown around and some people barely made it indoors without injury (one was hurt enough to need medical attention but everyone else was ok...see story here), so I grabbed my camera again and headed back out. While I'm sure it doesn't even begin to measure the damage caused by some tornados, it was amazing to me of how the cars were twisted, crushed and just tossed to the side of the road (some even down the road from where they were parked). I have never been that close to a tornado or seen it's damage and once I realized how close it actually was to where I live, work and play it became more surreal and I actually got a little scared.

I ended up giving a disk of some of my images to a Japan newspaper and news station, not that I'll ever probably get to see the article or newscast but I couldn't resist getting my image out there. You should have seen their faces light up and how big their eyes got when I told them I got an image of the tornado (actually water spout by that time).

Well enough gabbing, you can see my images at my website click the TORNADO link. The tornado is best seen in 3rd image.
Don't be too harsh on the quality of them, I was in a hurry and didn't get my camera switched to RAW so editing is little if any.

Message edited by author 2006-11-18 09:55:48.

Simms

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

11/18/2006 09:22:48 AM · #2

I would love to experience a tornado, only if I knew I wasnt gonna get hurt or anything though.. great story, glad you're OK...

Marjo

Canon EOS-7D

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

11/18/2006 09:26:24 AM · #3

Wow! Great shots.(I'm sure they'll use them in print.Way to go!) Very fortunate there weren't more injuries.
I was hesitant to attempt to view them because I have dial up but your photos loaded great for me. Nice site.

Strikeslip

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS

11/18/2006 09:45:44 AM · #4

OH SNAP!!!

I imagine that was a bit nerve-wracking. Congrats on the photos. I'd love to (safely) experience a tornado. Glad you're OK.

lynnmarie

Canon EOS-400D Rebel XTi

Canon EF 300mm f/4.0L IS USM

11/18/2006 10:08:56 AM · #5

Wow, didn't know that Japan ever got tornados! Living right here in "tornado alley", I have seen several tornados in my life and witnessed the destruction they can cause. Hope to shoot one some day; our peak season in Kansas is late spring/early summer.

ShutterPug

Canon EOS-6D

11/18/2006 11:25:48 AM · #6

Good shooting. Glad you didn't get hurt. When I was stationed at the Air base in Arkansas we had 6 tornados go through one night - the last one hitting the flight line on base. It was a strong one - tossing C130's around like toys. I wish I had been into photography at that time as I missed a great opportunity to get some cool shots.

Melethia

Canon EOS-80D

11/18/2006 12:30:48 PM · #7

Glad to hear everyone survived, though it looks like some folks will be car shopping in the near future.

Art Roflmao

Canon EOS-6D Mark II

Sigma 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspherical HF for Pentax

11/18/2006 02:40:26 PM · #8

Glad nobody was badly hurt. Could possibly get a good entry for Postcard II: "Glad you're not here" :)

Pug-H

Pentax K10D

11/18/2006 04:41:53 PM · #9

There's a picture (not credited) on the front page of today's Yomiuri Shimbun, taken a bit earlier than your S1181287.jpg. It seems 19 cars were overturned or damaged.

For people who don't know, there was a tornado in Hokkaido the other week which killed 9 people sitting in a construction office.

Edit to add: I just looked inside the back page now: There is a photo by Scott Bacon! It's S1181278.jpg, not even cropped.

Message edited by author 2006-11-18 16:47:27.

Sigma 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspherical HF for Pentax

11/18/2006 05:49:43 PM · #10

Originally posted by Pug-H:

Pug, How did you see this, I googled but can't seem to find it. Thanks for the info.

Art...lol that would be a good one

Pug-H

Pentax K10D

11/18/2006 06:25:17 PM · #11

Originally posted by sabphoto:

Originally posted by Pug-H:

Edit to add: I just looked inside the back page now: There is a photo by Scott Bacon! It's S1181278.jpg, not even cropped.

Pug, How did you see this, I googled but can't seem to find it. Thanks for the info.

It's in this thing that some guy on a motorbike delivers in the middle of the night. It's made of paper. We happen to get the Japanese edition (the English edition is way more expensive).

Sigma 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspherical HF for Pentax

11/18/2006 06:38:34 PM · #12

Originally posted by Pug-H:

Originally posted by sabphoto:

Originally posted by Pug-H:

Edit to add: I just looked inside the back page now: There is a photo by Scott Bacon! It's S1181278.jpg, not even cropped.

Pug, How did you see this, I googled but can't seem to find it. Thanks for the info.

It's in this thing that some guy on a motorbike delivers in the middle of the night. It's made of paper. We happen to get the Japanese edition (the English edition is way more expensive).

lol ok I asked for that. I didn't realize you were in Japan. I will have to look for one here. Thanks again.

Message edited by author 2006-11-18 18:38:44.

Pug-H

Pentax K10D

11/19/2006 01:45:17 AM · #13

I did a rough scan of Scott's photo and article...

Bosborne

Canon EOS-30D

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

11/19/2006 01:57:45 AM · #14

Well. there you go Scott! Congrats!

11/19/2006 03:25:12 AM · #15

Originally posted by Pug-H:

I did a rough scan of Scott's photo and article...

Thank you so very much Pug-H, I really appreciate it. I should however probably contact the newspaper and tell them that the photo they chose to show was AFTER the actual tornado came through, probably a good 10-20 minutes after. I know it looks like a tornado but I didn't mean for them to pass it off as the actual shot when I included it on the disk. Oops.

Art Roflmao

Canon EOS-6D Mark II