All good points here. The thing about being a chaser is that unlike most hobbies, the spectacular and compelling nature of the subject we love means that we organically capture valuable "viral potential" footage on a regular basis. For-profit entities are going to want to exploit that via various means for *their* profit, and they are very happy to do that without paying for it if one lets them. You don't have to be an over-the-top chaser/influencer for that to happen either. I'm a boring, on-the-low-end-of-mediocre chaser and photographer, but despite that, I manage to regularly capture photos and videos that garner a lot of viewers and generates meaningful revenue every year.
I got into the TV licensing business because *they* contacted *me* looking for footage back in 2001 and 2002. It was a by-product of my chasing, not my reason for chasing. I was very green about licensing video at the time, but learned quickly that our video can be a high-value financial asset akin to your stock portfolio or a real estate holding. Has it been enough to live on? For me, in a couple of years, barely yes. Enough to make a difference in my life and my ability to do what I love? Absolutely. As I'm not independently wealthy, 90% of what is on my Youtube channel and web site would not have been possible had I never monetized my content. It has paid for most of my travel and equipment costs for the past 20 years.
Good points, Dan. Here is my follow up, nor is this meant as an argument, merely a "stay classy" weather board (or is it bored?) discussion ;0)
Here is the thing most "chasers" or what became "weather influencers" (i.e. Pecos Hank, Ryan Hall Y'All, Reed Timmer...
see a pattern, et al) do not really understand,
nor did previously to the weather video market boom of 1997, post Twister 1996 and shortly thereafter, in 2000, 2001. None of us own nature, regardless if you capture it on tape, film, or digitial and the majority of your "material" you document in the time you are alive is only worth it's salt
in the moment it's experienced, and nothing more. Sure there are numerous historical archive aspects, and before weather video got out of hand, video and film of tornadoes was recorded not for glory, fame or fleeting fortunes, but for research and analysis. Most on this forum already know this well, thus I digress.
Yet in this life,
this only life you get by the way, your videotape, film reel or digital video of an atmospheric event is very fleeting to the hands of time, much like the air itself. Outside of this high pressure (or low pressure, depending on your personal preferences) bubble of a niche "group" if one can even call it that anymore, few if any people give a second thought about "your" photo, video, etc. It's just another picture. There are a billion or more of them now. Once in awhile there is a photo or video that wows me, thus the point of photojournalism. That said, I've conversed with so many individuals from every walk of life, culture, race and gender preference over the past 25 years outside of the "storm chaser" zone regarding this very topic that thankfully, my confirmation was made clear post facto of the Storm Chasing Anthology project a decade ago. The majority of people just do not care about a copyright, a weather photo or who took it, unless it has specific meaning to them (i.e. loss of a loved one, a town destroyed, historical posterity, etc).
Those statements are a very personal thing for me to write, because it cuts to the core of what many people seek out, or miss entirely, while searching for those natural displays of splendor, horror or merely a calm field with an abandoned farmstead in the foreground. I feel every one of us who has been formally published, broadcast, put to cinematic screen or interviewed on the topic can identify with the fact/s that utilizing our imagery for profit or not, is not, nor dare I say, should not, be the main "goal" for this type of activity (i.e. storm observing).
Thankfully a collaborative book is being produced on the topic by a woman, Dr. Kate Carpenter, from Princeton. Keep an eye out for that text inbound in the next few years, it should be great!
My first tornado video, recorded on a tripod with a prosumer Olympus VX-405 SVHS CCD camcorder, landed me a a freelance paycheck of $150 from the Michiana Telecasting Corporation, WNDU NBC 16 in South Bend, Indiana, a summer job shadow in the weather department and opened up a wonderfully storied career in broadcast television, radio. That tornado and "video sale" experience from the 11 June 1998 complimented my previous independent website ventures with Southwest Michigan SKYWARN, The Michigan Storm Intercept Team (MSIT, I don't), The National Weather Service in GRR, IWX, The Michigan State Police (circa 2000, 2001), and other local, national and international media outlets and production houses. I never really made any decent income off of weather video, nor was it the primary goal. That experience
did open up the door to other opportunities. Many others share similar experiences in career, nor am I unique in that respect. That's just "my" story.
Around the same time, and yes, I will note here for the record, Doug Kiesling, Rory Groves, Roger Hill, Jeff Piotrowski, all whom started what became the digital FTP weather video "gold rush" between 1999 and 2001 via the then "Breaking News Video Network" or BNVN, most disbanded and distanced themselves from Mr. Kiesling for their own reasons, did indeed pave the way for stringers and "weather video brokers" far and wide who entirely copied the successful formula, such as "Live Storms Media" and additional LLC's that formed mainly after the "reality" programs of 2007-2012. CNN was not even on board with FTP uploads in 2000 believe it or not, and it was BNVN, now formally known as Storm Chasing Video, LLC, that led the way for that push. What followed unfortunately was a petty push for fleeting "fame" for a few minutes and yes, the all mighty dollar to "never stop chasing" as a mantra that the masses ate up hook, line and sinker. That is not a rip on Dr. Timmer by the way for anyone keeping score, an individual whom I did respect for a time, and a former friend who is now lost to the winds of the internet and other addictions. It's not all tornado glory, folks! All of what I note here however is just an unfortunate fact of life with what became "video brokering" of which I will admit, I too was very thankful for at times while working with a host of legacy media broadcast networks, mainly ABC, NBC, CBS, The Weather Channel, The Weather Network and Telemundo between 2003 and 2024. In 2003, I was able to PAY MY ENTIRE MONTHS RENT of $350 for a large, historical one bedroom upstairs apartment in Kalamazoo, Michigan by recording rain and lightning video outside my bedroom window and, get this, have some left over for food and beverages to boot! Loved that era! Long gone those days are!
The era of the late Jim Leonard (d. 2014) or others making $100, $500 or $1000+/per minute for thunderstorm or tornado video, as Warren and others who are still active here from that era experienced and have previously noted in other threads
is over. That was the 1980's into the 1990's,
not 2024. Anyone who believes that idea exists still is a sucker, and please, keep your crypto nonsense to your own web 3.0 blockchains and leave me out of it! But beyond the viewfinder, beyond the allure of the dollar (or euro) sign or "copyright" grabs, "takedowns" and so fourth that
so many "chasers" seem to obsess over, I will end this ramble on a positive, encouraging note. At least I shall certainly try!
My days of storm observing have pretty much wrapped up post the
7 May 2024 Kalamazoo County, Michigan tornado events in/around Portage. After observing at least 150+ significant tornadoes from 1997 onward, three major hurricanes including Cat 5 Hurricane Michael on 9 October 2018 in Panama City Beach that Dr. Timmer and I were broadcasting live for AccuWeather TV as stop signs and kayaks flew past us, some of those same scenes have since inspired several stage comedy scripts for my incoming project intended for
The Second City called
THE WEATHER CREW ™ next summer 2025, I have personally had my fill of devastation, or need for any profit from it. My last video sale was a mutual exchange of courtesy between former colleagues at WXMI FOX 17 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, ABC News and The Weather Channel. I was thankful for that, but with that event, I choose to move in a healthier direction.
I recall what David Hoadley, Randy Zipser and Dr. Joe Golden, still to this day all of us are still friends and connected by email, told me ages ago. I oddly cannot recall the exact quote or who specifically said it as this was over 20 years ago, but it was along the lines of just being "one with the atmosphere" with the adage of appreciating the amazing, once in a lifetime types of experiences it can offer. If you can teach and inspire others towards a greater good or beneficial route, you are doing good. "Everything else is gravy" as I recall the concluding statement, per Dave Hoadley in one of his many great video compilations (all on film reels, slide shows, audio cassette, videotape or dvd disc) over the decades. Recording or documenting a tornado on video, celluloid or for print such as Warren's momentary accomplishment as a photojournalist in Time/Life magazine in 1989 is what Dave meant by that comment. It's a side perk. A lark! Fun with some side benefits.
I fully respect that everyone here on Stormtrack is different and have assorted motivations, goals and viewpoints. We can agree to disagree, or agree, or merely not. That's why I still love discussions such as this and the very spark of what makes up the spice of life! Yet in the wake of present day "social" media "discords", of which the very names of "discord" and "influence" are not good things in the long run,
"Influence" was a Dick Tracy gangster who preyed upon his victims by suggestive glances and remarks. Discord, by very definition as a noun equates to a "disagreement between people."
In my limited days and years ahead, I'll merely continue to attempt to providing positive, beneficial or educational boost to any up and coming meteorologist, photojournalist, filmmaker, writer or in my new line of work, comedians, who need an "updraft" to encourage them in whatever healthy goal a individual sets fourth for themselves. That is what my parents did for me, and certainly, those aspects are what respectable folks do for each other.
That, as human beings, is all we can do, and give a little love in the mix. It all goes a long way, boy howdy! Beyond the name recognition, live streams or digital fodder that prevails online these days, we all really are certainly interconnected by nature, all here I would gather appreciate that fact, and on that note, I wish everyone a safe and enjoyable November!
Cheers,
Blake
BLAKE WILLIAM NAFTEL
Artist, Geoscientist, Writer
616.643.7762
blakenaftel.com
threereelfilms.com
newwaveweather.com (coming in 2025)
