Would you rather?

[Todd Lemery]

Give me number one. As long as I still have a little left of my mind I'll be able to remember the tornados and the chases. Of course, those memories would be mine alone and I wouldn't be able to show them to anybody. That's OK. Tornados are just like girls. All the girls I dated were each unique in their own way and left me with wildly different memories. If I had only been able to date one or two, I'd feel like I was missing out on something. Just like seeing tornados.

 

[Adam Lucio]

I'd have to go with #2 with for sure. Because we all know the only thing better than seeing the tornado is showing it off later

 

[Dan Robinson]

My first impulse is to choose #2. Bagging a nice photo/video to take home *is* an inextricable part of the act of chasing. It would be like asking a hunter if he'd rather see a nice 20-point buck every time he went out, but only be allowed to take one home every 15 years.

But after some thought, if it was a mandatory thing, I'd have to go for #1. Just looking back on experience, I know the glory of a nice tornado image or video is short-lived. No one cares about it a week later other than me - and even after a couple of years, I've mostly moved on to looking forward to the next one.

As others have said, I'm glad I don't have to make that choice!

 

[John Olexa]

Option 2!! I want to be able to look at my photos 30 years from now and remember something about each one.

 

[MClarkson]

#1. I want to be there and experience it. The camera is only an afterthought. Besides, about 18 other chasers will get the same picture most of the time...

 

[Dave C]

I guess if I have to pick one: #1.

I don't always really care if I see a tornado. I'm out there for the journey. I'm really into still photography, and a few tornadoes are amazing in photographs, but for me there are many many more great photos of storm structure and lightning.

I personally don't care for the obsession with counting tornadoes in the chase community.

 

[joel ewing]

For years I chased without any kind of camera.....by myself. This obviously meant that my priority had to be on driving and not on shooting/taping. And really, as long as I saw the action with my own eyes, I didn't feel compelled to capture it with a camera. Since 2001, my cousin Doren Berge has been my annual chase partner, and he shoots and I drive. Problem is, a lot of times once we fly home to Arizona and Massachusetts after being out a month...I never get to see what he's shot...he hordes these pics.

 

[Chris Frost]

It's a no-brainer for me. #1

IMO it would just be way too long between tornadoes to pick #2.

 

[Adam R Davis]

I'm as much a camera junkie as I am a weather junkie. The two kind of go hand in hand for me. And I think knowing you would see a tornado on every chase would get predictable and boring after a while. Part of the fun is wondering what you'll see on a given day, and if you made the right choices or got your forecast on the mark. But 1 in 300? That's a bit of a stretch. Can I have a happy medium? Like I have to use outdated mini DV cameras only, and see a tornado in one out of 10 chases?

 

[Justin Wilcox]

I honestly never gave a schit about getting footage. I do it for me and me only. I dont need to go back and look at anything because I will always remember it. Plus I will be chasing until I die so theres always the next tube. Do I care to prove it to anyone?... nope. If anyone wants proof they can ride with me and pitch in on gas. So option #1 is the only way.


...and that was me a couple years ago lol. Save for a bunch of Cingular flip phone pics and a couple point & shoot pics, I regret not getting footage, big time. A couple years ago me and Shane Adams talked about it briefly in ST chat. I started thinking differently when he said "Do you have kids? Dont you want to leave them something?" plus the past couple years of hearing video this/ video that all the time in the chat made me change my mind. So I would definitely roll with option #2. 1 in 300 isnt really that bad compared to the past 3 years. Thats 3-4 tubes a year. Im good with that.

 

[TrumanBoyer]

Changing the analogy from 4-legged to 2-legged dear (intentional misspeling).

Would you rather get lucky every time you go out,
or get laid once in 15 years but you get to videotape it,
so you can show it to your buddies and watch it over and over again ?

I am sure I don't need to tell you that the thrill of sharing
and watching video is nothing like being there.
Weather porn or real porn -- participation is WAY better than just viewing.

( but sharing it can be lucrative, lol )

-T

 

[Skip Talbot]

Changing the analogy from 4-legged to 2-legged dear (intentional misspeling).

Would you rather get lucky every time you go out,
or get laid once in 15 years but you get to videotape it,
so you can show it to your buddies and watch it over and over again ?

I am sure I don't need to tell you that the thrill of sharing
and watching video is nothing like being there.
Weather porn or real porn -- participation is WAY better than just viewing.

( but sharing it can be lucrative, lol )

-T

There's a few issues that the original question raises. First, does the rarity of tornadoes raise their value to you? Second, do you need a tornado to be fulfilled on your chases? Third, do you need to capture the moment to fulfill your chase desires? Some folks are trying to answer all of these questions at once, and some just a few questions I think.

A sex analogy could work I think but the one Truman proposes isn't equal the way it's presented. First, most people don't value whether they're fulfilled by sex by whether or not they get to photograph it. That's not the ultimate goal of it. Shooting photos or videos is the ultimate goal for many chasers though. They're fulfilled by capturing their experience.

The other problem with the analogy is that even sex becomes mundane if it's easy and common. Part of what makes chasing tornadoes so alluring is that they're rare and fleeting. If you see one every time you chase, wouldn't it lose its appeal? I like lightning and see it almost every time I chase, but I don't get short of breath and my heart doesn't race every time I see it, despite it being an awesomely powerful force of nature.

If you don't value that rarity at all (and you also get your kicks from shooting porn rather than experiencing sex) then yeah, I think that original analogy works.

A better analogy I think. Would you rather score with the local bar floozy every Saturday or would you rather score with a world famous movie star once every 15 years? A few years in you might start to get tired of that bar floozy, but if you picked the second option you might still be filled with passion for the challenge. Years after both options were fulfilled, which would you look back on more fondly? Would you show your friends a picture of the bar floozy or one of the movie star's films?

 

[Mike Marz]

haha, well this thread got a bit more interesting with these different analogies. I keep going back and forth in my mind on the real answer to this one. It would get annoying to see tornadoes all the time and not be able to prove it... but then again, at least I got to see them. I am actually getting annoyed that I asked this question now because I can't decide.