Every storm chaser has been eagerly waiting to see the movie “Twisters”, a loose follow-up to the box-office smash “Twister” from 1996.
Every storm chaser including me.
For as long as I can remember, my mother has had a recurring dream that a tornado was coming towards her. His dream inspired my work as a photographer, and my interest in storm chasing.
After doing my first chase in 2021, I became hooked. Since then, I’ve been studying meteorology, trying to improve storm forecasting. Every spring, he flies to Tornado Alley, a region in the central United States where tornadoes are likely to form.
Chasing a storm is a powerful experience, one that I wanted to share with others through photography.
I knew I wanted to work on a photo essay that coincided with the release of “Twisters.” So I pitched a story about storm chasing to Shannon Simon, photo editor at the New York Times Magazine. We wanted to create a photo essay where readers could feel what it was like to be in a chase, and who better to go with the most famous storm chaser in the world, Reed Timmer?
I have spent weeks trying to connect with him, but during storm chasing season, he is on the move and difficult to control. Once I was able to follow him, he agreed to do the story – only, I learned, because he appreciated my perspective as a photographer and storm chaser. We know that the project involved a lot of trust on both sides.
We decided to try for Memorial Day weekend because the forecast showed a high potential for storms. But unfortunately for us, the Dominator 3, a seven-ton armored Ford F-350 that Reed uses for hunting, was in the shop.
I flew to Oklahoma City to meet Reed and his team anyway, hoping the vehicle would be fixed in time. Fortunately, a few hours after I arrived, I got a text with good news: The Dominator 3 was out of the shop, and we were officially going to chase it.
The next morning, I showed up at Team Dominator headquarters (Reed’s house) to meet the hunting party, which included Reed, Edgar ONeal, and Matt Spatol. So let’s hit the road.
It is difficult to take pictures while in a dark and moving vehicle. The ride was bumpy, and I threw myself around a lot in the back seat, all while trying to hold the camera steady and capture images. I spent much of the chase trying to reposition myself to get a better view of the storm as it formed. Getting out of the car to take a photograph was out of the question – once the storm gathered, you needed to be ready to take it at a moment’s notice.
At one point, Reed yelled, “He’s on the ground!” Debris started flying around the car, and the left rear window was blocked, so we couldn’t get it out. The tornado was forming as we manually pushed down the window.
I looked out the window to see a massive metal fence flying towards me. I knew there was nothing I could do. I just had hope that the armored car would protect us. The metal fence wrapped around the back of Dominator 3, then flew away. “Debris hit the car!” Reed shouted. I move towards the front seat to get a better view of what is happening above us.
Reed doesn’t just chase storms, he intercepts them. He positioned the vehicle in the direct path of the tornado, and soon enough, the dust swallowed the Dominator whole. Being in a tornado is not like being in the eye of a hurricane, where everything is calm. Instead, strong winds and debris whip around the vehicle. Your ears also pop out.
Reed yelled, “Big time tornado!” It’s a phrase I heard a lot during my time with him.
I left that hunt covered in bruises, ready to do it all over again. And then we did, for three more weeks.
We traveled from Texas to North Dakota, through 10 states, to the US-Canada border. We spent up to 14 hours driving per day, trying to get from one potential storm to the next. We alternated between eating fast food, pizza and whatever we could get from the local gas station. Everywhere we went, people seemed to know Reed and his dog, Gizmo. (He has seen more than 200 tornadoes).
Although “Twisters” (yes, I went to see it!) was a fun ride, going on a real-life chase with Reed – in all his bumpy, wild and exciting glory – is not something I will soon forget. And I hope that the images that I took will help the readers who feel as if they were crammed into the Dominator 3 with us, too.
The place Inside a Twister with the world’s most famous storm chaser appeared first New York Times.
