Site News / Basket Hut

Per the first part of the title, I have added a PayPal Donate button found in the right sidebar. My priorities are such that photography and hobbies come last as far as personal investment. With this in mind, my gear is becoming increasingly dated so I've recently been thinking more about how to potentially upgrade. Ideally I would like to simply invest in a more appropriate lens such as Canon 10-22 but that is a pipe dream at this point. For the sake of illustrating though, I thought it might be fun to show what I use and the condition it is in. Some people think my photography isn't very good and for this my feelings are not hurt. It has at times been difficult to work with this setup. For those who think my photography is good then let this example demonstrate what you can achieve with a little bit of determination. Overall, I am very grateful because of the history associated with this camera and will use it for as long as it works. The hope is that one day it will be reserved exclusively for time lapse.

Per the second part of the title, back in March when we visited PA, one of my mom's 1/12th scale room box creations came back with us. It suffered some minor damage from the trip and was covered in dust. On Saturday, I spent the afternoon fixing, cleaning and ultimately photographing it. Below is one of the baskets made from scratch out of found twigs. The duck basket after that was made out of balsa wood.

Besides scale and detail, atmosphere was equally important to my mom which is why most of her room boxes were illuminated.

Yes, she made everything you see and especially the woven baskets. The shelved ones can fit comfortably on a nickel.

Friendship sign is the size of a quarter.

I should have focused on the wreath for this shot but you can still see via the little black latch that she left out no detail.

Measuring roughly 12"x12", the frame construction was of balsa wood with the artificial rock walls being of a spongy material that I believe was scored and painted craft foam. The roof is detachable which reveals a series of trusses though not shown. The tulip and daffodil flowers are comprised of a fimo-like homemade bread dough concoction she used. The miniature hyacinths are that of a curled paper technique called quilling. Hindsight being what it is, I wish I had paid a little more attention to how she produced the way she did to offer better explanation.

Pulse Storms Instead of Eclipse

After an extended period of ideal viewing conditions for the 2012 annular eclipse, it would figure that when this historic natural event came to pass, Central Illinois would be socked in with clouds and storms. I made it a point to be out anyways in the hope that there would be a break during the magic moment but there was none. What I did get to see was a severe warned cell coming out of Sangamon into Macon county that produced an impressive down burst dust foot that kicked up a massive amount of dirt since it has been so dry.

Once all was done with the severe event, I headed south to run an errand even though by now all hope was lost for seeing the eclipse. While down in southern Macon County, I noticed a boundary with a rain shaft behind it that I thought made for a cool composition. This is where it got interesting and frustrating at the same time for I wasn't paying attention that this was a cell rooted on the south side of a stalled boundary. When this occurs, you'll sometimes get photogenic structure as the little bit of directional wind shear sculpts the base. Today I hit the mother lode of non-severe, ofb enhanced base structure yet I was oblivious to what was happening because I was seeing it from the wrong side. In hindsight, I am not 100% certain to have been on the other side facing north would have been ideal for seeing all the crazy motions but I did have a meltdown of sorts when I realized what I was looking at much later and felt completely stupid. I'm sure by now most people think I'm nuts anyways but one truth about me is that I am exceptionally hard on myself. I have my reasons but most notably, for what I lack in forecast ability or being able to follow through like a true over the road chaser, I try to compensate for in accurate identification for which this day I failed.

Moving closer, this is a three shot panorama facing S featuring the back side of the outflow boundary enhanced pulse storm base structure and an interaction that I have only ever seen on radar. The mass is moving from right to left with the cloud streaming into it from the left being a tail cloud.

The mass wrapped into dare I say a "wall cloud" at which point a slowly rotating cigar shaped funnel cloud developed. The whole thing was behaving in the most surreal fashion that you can see in the end video.

Later near Decatur while attempting to photograph the brilliant lightning without much success on what was now a fully mature line producing heavy rain, the area of interest kind of "lined out" yet still was an unusual sight. You are facing E.

Finally near home...

Extreme Dust Devils

Most people including myself perceive dust devils as harmless little dirt whirls in a field for usually they are. On Wednesday with full sun and winds backing out of the NE at 16 MPH (gusting at times to 23 MPH), dust devils spinning up from just NW of Forsyth were however, surprisingly intense. Terrain was a factor where I was for whirlwinds kept developing along the same path in succession over the crest of a broad sloping incline. They would go on to be remarkably tall as well as long lived. As a result, I was fortunate to document some of the largest, most violent dust devils I have personally ever witnessed. The size and volume of small debris that was being thrown by the strongest ones that were chewing through the dirt could have potentially inflicted minor injury if one were within close enough proximity. The experience was a welcome opportunity for what has been a somewhat quiet and difficult month since last post.

Towards the end of the session and from down the road at a different location, a particularly nasty devil spun up and grazed a house. Unless you cared to risk losing an eye or at the very least eat some dirt, I don't think a direct hit would have been an entirely pleasant experience lol.

First Week of May

Without a doubt it has been a busy time since the start of the month. Beginning with Tuesday the 1st, we had an intense supercell complex mushroom up just to the east of Decatur that would produce numerous tornadoes in East Central Illinois. Going off of a generous heads up from Andrew Pritchard who saw the potential for this to occur during the night before, I made it a point to be watchful for anything that fired during the early afternoon. Just prior to initiation while running errands down near Assumption, I happened to encounter a "bugnado" which is the unofficial name for a violently rotating column of insects. I first heard of this phenomena through Mike Hollingshead though I never believed I would witness it for myself. A short while later while stopping to simply observe early towers that were the genesis of what would come later, I spotted an uninterested garter snake but not before almost stepping on it lol.

Turning attention to the tornado event, the first image sample below featuring a funnel cloud over Piatt County that would eventually produce an initial touchdown was just business as usual for the distant turkey buzzard being harassed by the red winged blackbird. The second image which is the one to go somewhat viral was from SW of Champaign and is the second tornado of the event. The third image is a driving phone pic from around the time of the third tornado touchdown. It was the best I could do to document the multiple funnels that were rapidly rotating under the parent updraft region. The video element is a slideshow of the gallery images with a time lapse clip at the end showing the departing storm as it was crossing over into Indiana.

It would only be fitting that after such an incredible experience, irony would rear it's ugly head and manifest as car problems. On the night of the 3rd, a line of strong storms with vivid lightning drifted across extreme Northern Illinois yet could be seen from down here. I stepped out early with the intent of heading into the country and shooting before work only to find that replacing a distributor cap a few days prior did not solve an ongoing starting problem. Fortunately I had access to a loaner vehicle thus enabling me to fulfill the mission of the time but until I figure out what is wrong with my truck and get the necessary funds to correct it, I am pretty much sidelined. So as for this particular session, I only had a 20 minute window which turned out to be plenty. A well timed rouge cell halfway between my location and the main activity up north developed and upon maturation kicked off a few sparks. Likewise, a meteor fired in another frame so for shooting continuous, I walked away with the material necessary for individual stills, a stack and a time lapse. The moment was made complete with the sound of killdeer as well as some other bird species off in the distance. Recording video so to obtain audio, you can experience the peacefulness for yourself.

On the overnight into the 7th we had a number of non severe but highly electrified pulse type storms develop around the region. At my location an outflow generated arcus cloud would form and go right overhead thus offering up a final time lapse opportunity before we slipped into the extended period of quiet we are currently experiencing.