For most of his life, Warren Faidley has chased the skies.
Hunting hurricanes, tornadoes, dust devils
and everything inbetween,
Faidley has managed to carve a successful career for himself as the
world’s first professional storm chaser.
Born in Topeka, Kansas, he
has turned braving the elements for art’s sake into much more than
a thrill-seeker’s game. After twenty years,
Faidley has woven
together science, adventure, and the art of photography into
something both awe-inspiring and meaningful.
While countless amateurs come out of the woodwork during
While countless amateurs come out of the woodwork during
tornado season, Faidley is a full-time storm chaser, pursuing
storms and educating
the public. He is the only person to have
ever survived both a Category-5 hurricane and an F-5 tornado. His
knack for escaping some
of the world’s most dangerous weather
has not only garnered praise from the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) but
his talents as a photographer and weather journalist have landed his work in the pages of Time, Life, and National Geographic, among
others.
Recently called "America’s top storm chaser" by MSNBC and the weather world’s own Indiana Jones, Warren Faidley succeeds in capturing weather shots under some of the worst imaginable situations. "It’s tough because you have to make a decision when you’re using a videocamera and a still camera," Faidley says of the primary challenges of storm photography. "You have to balance out what’s going to work best for you under the circumstances." In fact, with the inherent danger and chaos related to photographing Mother Nature’s worst, Faidley likens his work to war photojournalism.
Weather photography offers a number of upsides to Faidley, including keeping everything creatively fresh and exciting. "If you’re going to shoot a boring city council meeting, which I used to have to do, you pretty much know what you’re getting into. And, barring some wild thing happening, is same-old, same-old. So, what I like, is the chase brings something new every time."
From sprawling cloudscapes to devastated cities, Faidley’s art is about "going out there and capturing everything." Renowned for his annual plunges deep into the heart of Tornado Alley, Faidley went south in 2005 to photograph Hurricane Katrina. "I tried to get to Biloxi," Faidley explained. "They closed the roads, so we were forced back to Mobile. Mobile was under 7 to 10 feet, depending on where you were." Despite photographing ten different hurricanes in the past, Faidley once said that working in the face of Katrina was "like working in Hell"—a challenge rife with photographic challenges and personal peril.
"The problem with Katrina is that everybody thinks of it as a really bad hurricane," he said. "The storm surge was really bad but it certainly wasn’t the worst storm it could’ve been. If the winds would’ve come in and as high they once were, Katrina would’ve been much more devastating."
Since he was a boy, Faidley has lived in Tucson, Arizona. "I grew up here," he says of the city. "It’s really close to the West Coast, so I can get out and cover other things. I’m only a day from Tornado Alley, if I really push it. I can be out to Oklahoma or Texas within a day. So, strategically, [Tucson] is a great place to live and I still have the lightning in the summertime. And, of course, lightning is pretty much what got [my career] going."
Prior to Faidley’s tornado chases, his photograph "Lightning vs. the Tank Farm" launched his extreme weather career. In 1987, Faidley captured a photograph of lightning striking a light pole at an oil and gasoline tank farm in Arizona—an image that has been analyzed by physicists, digitized and studied by NASA, and featured in Life magazine. The shot, needless to say, almost killed him.
In the first of many harrowing experiences for his art, the photograph galvanized his place as the most sought-after weather expert and storm photographer in the world. Every year, Faidley’s images, stories, and footage are used in countless magazines, radio, television, advertising, and motion pictures. In 1995, Faidley was enlisted as a consultant on the motion picture Twister, helping to scout locations and share photographs. Despite never receiving a promised consultant credit, Faidley remains pragmatic about the filmmakers’ ignorance. "It’s the nature of the business," he laughs. "Film companies really just buy people so they can use them. They’re very good at doing that."
Regardless, some of Faidley’s tornado footage was eventually used for Twister, not to mention a photograph that became the "star" of the movie’s theatrical poster—albeit digitally enhanced to destroy a barn and tear after actors Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton across a field.
Currently, Faidley is the CEO of Weatherstock, a film-stock company devoted to weather photography and video, and Storm Risk, a severe weather consulting company. In an ever-changing creative world, however, Faidley is realistic about moving into other areas. "A lot of other stuff is really competitive," he says. "Fashion, for example, is extremely competitive. Unfortunately, photography is a dying art. Everybody’s got a camera now and everybody’s a photography. It’s devalued. And with royalty-free photography coming in, and lots of people just giving their work away, it’s really destroyed the market. It’s really hard to do other things."
With the 2007 tornado season fast approaching—marking his twentieth professional year chasing storms—Faidley is no doubt looking forward to what he does best … come hell or high water.
Recently called "America’s top storm chaser" by MSNBC and the weather world’s own Indiana Jones, Warren Faidley succeeds in capturing weather shots under some of the worst imaginable situations. "It’s tough because you have to make a decision when you’re using a videocamera and a still camera," Faidley says of the primary challenges of storm photography. "You have to balance out what’s going to work best for you under the circumstances." In fact, with the inherent danger and chaos related to photographing Mother Nature’s worst, Faidley likens his work to war photojournalism.
Weather photography offers a number of upsides to Faidley, including keeping everything creatively fresh and exciting. "If you’re going to shoot a boring city council meeting, which I used to have to do, you pretty much know what you’re getting into. And, barring some wild thing happening, is same-old, same-old. So, what I like, is the chase brings something new every time."
From sprawling cloudscapes to devastated cities, Faidley’s art is about "going out there and capturing everything." Renowned for his annual plunges deep into the heart of Tornado Alley, Faidley went south in 2005 to photograph Hurricane Katrina. "I tried to get to Biloxi," Faidley explained. "They closed the roads, so we were forced back to Mobile. Mobile was under 7 to 10 feet, depending on where you were." Despite photographing ten different hurricanes in the past, Faidley once said that working in the face of Katrina was "like working in Hell"—a challenge rife with photographic challenges and personal peril.
"The problem with Katrina is that everybody thinks of it as a really bad hurricane," he said. "The storm surge was really bad but it certainly wasn’t the worst storm it could’ve been. If the winds would’ve come in and as high they once were, Katrina would’ve been much more devastating."
Since he was a boy, Faidley has lived in Tucson, Arizona. "I grew up here," he says of the city. "It’s really close to the West Coast, so I can get out and cover other things. I’m only a day from Tornado Alley, if I really push it. I can be out to Oklahoma or Texas within a day. So, strategically, [Tucson] is a great place to live and I still have the lightning in the summertime. And, of course, lightning is pretty much what got [my career] going."
Prior to Faidley’s tornado chases, his photograph "Lightning vs. the Tank Farm" launched his extreme weather career. In 1987, Faidley captured a photograph of lightning striking a light pole at an oil and gasoline tank farm in Arizona—an image that has been analyzed by physicists, digitized and studied by NASA, and featured in Life magazine. The shot, needless to say, almost killed him.
In the first of many harrowing experiences for his art, the photograph galvanized his place as the most sought-after weather expert and storm photographer in the world. Every year, Faidley’s images, stories, and footage are used in countless magazines, radio, television, advertising, and motion pictures. In 1995, Faidley was enlisted as a consultant on the motion picture Twister, helping to scout locations and share photographs. Despite never receiving a promised consultant credit, Faidley remains pragmatic about the filmmakers’ ignorance. "It’s the nature of the business," he laughs. "Film companies really just buy people so they can use them. They’re very good at doing that."
Regardless, some of Faidley’s tornado footage was eventually used for Twister, not to mention a photograph that became the "star" of the movie’s theatrical poster—albeit digitally enhanced to destroy a barn and tear after actors Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton across a field.
Currently, Faidley is the CEO of Weatherstock, a film-stock company devoted to weather photography and video, and Storm Risk, a severe weather consulting company. In an ever-changing creative world, however, Faidley is realistic about moving into other areas. "A lot of other stuff is really competitive," he says. "Fashion, for example, is extremely competitive. Unfortunately, photography is a dying art. Everybody’s got a camera now and everybody’s a photography. It’s devalued. And with royalty-free photography coming in, and lots of people just giving their work away, it’s really destroyed the market. It’s really hard to do other things."
With the 2007 tornado season fast approaching—marking his twentieth professional year chasing storms—Faidley is no doubt looking forward to what he does best … come hell or high water.
This profile is the property of Rain Farm Press and its literary journal Paradigm.
Copyright © 2007.
