DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Epic Portraits Taken While Storm Chasing Show The Impact Of Climate Change

Nov 30, 2015 by Mitch Highman 10 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Image from Benjamin Von Wong's "Surreal Stormchasing Portraits"

Image from Benjamin Von Wong’s “Surreal Stormchasing Portraits”

I remember chatting with Benjamin Von Wong on Facebook one day, and him inviting me to this Facebook group that would involve his next adventure. Months later, this story came across my desk and I had to jump on it and made sure I got to share it with all of you! If you are unfamiliar with Von Wong’s work I suggest you take a look at his site after you read about this project. What happens when you take creative minds like Benjamin Von Wong and Kelly DeLay, plus a crew of talented storm chasers, photographers, and a community of friends and fans, and send them out into the midwestern United States into some very strong storms?

Come out of that storm cellar and take a look at the imagery and the story behind it!

Ben had told me that he didn’t know if this project would bring him near my home state of North Dakota (Not much brings anyone here) because we do get the occasional tornado. I joined the Facebook group and already started to see Von Wong’s ideas start rolling because he was asking for some crazy things! We all know that he was going to be chasing storms. He was asking for grills, toilets, and anything crazy that may help his vision.

Von Wong is known for his elaborate imagery and is always the first to thank his team for the end result.

Not only had i never chased a storm in my life, I had also never planned a project around an uncontrollable force of nature. Clearly I was going to need to find some help.

Utilizing a storm chaser is always a good route to take when wanting to chase the storms of the midwest US. They are unpredictable and can be very dangerous! Most storm chasers are knowledgeable about meteorology and have just a little bit of crazy in them as well. Finding a photographer with 7 years of chasing experience was Von Wong’s… perfect storm! Kelly DeLay, a weather and environmental photographer, would be a wealth of knowledge and be able to tell Ben what it took to photograph storms and what to expect when out in the field.

BTS_Stormchasing_6

Ryan Zimmerman, a fan and photographer from Colorado offered to come with his ambulance. The team posed for a shot on the plains of the midwest.

We have all experienced storms. Mother nature loves to show off and loves to get some face time! During those moments in a storm when a lot of us are watching clouds form or heading down to the lowest floor in our house, this team Von Wong put together had 10-15 minutes to set up and tear down their shoot to get the shot. DeLay also made it known that there were no guarantees they would get the shots when out in the field.

Setup and teardown all in 15 minutes can be hectic especially when dealing with a $7,000 Broncolor Move Flash Pack.

Setup and teardown all in 15 minutes can be hectic especially when dealing with a $7,000 Broncolor Move Flash Pack.

I followed that Facebook group daily! It was always good to see that Ben was still asking for props meaning the storms had not gotten too close! When he had stated the adventure was done I was excited because I knew that whatever he had in store for us was going to be epic. Von Wong doesn’t disappoint.

The imagery from the adventure is everything I had hoped it to be and more. The other aspect of Von Wong that you get to know while following him is that as an artist he looks for ways to make a difference. Getting in front of these storms and seeing them first hand he said that it allowed him to “greatly increase my understanding of climate change by discovering documentaries like Conspiracy and how dire of a situation we find ourselves in.” I won’t dive into the issues with climate change but I do want to bring to attention that Von Wong wanted to make a difference by bringing to light this issue using his imagery.

Enough of me blabbering on with all of this text! Picture time!

I feel that the captions of the photos are there to make us think about how “Climate Change” doesn’t care about what we are doing. The captions are there to tell us that we have to care about what we are doing that may effect “Climate Change”.

"Climate change doesn't care | How fast you level up"

“Climate change doesn’t care | How fast you level up”

"Climate doesn't care | about how good it tastes"

“Climate doesn’t care | about how good it tastes”

"Climate doesn't care | about the news today"

“Climate doesn’t care | about the news today”

"Climate doesn't care | about what you're going to wear tomorrow"

“Climate doesn’t care | about what you’re going to wear tomorrow”

"Climate doesn't care | that you need a vacation"

“Climate doesn’t care | that you need a vacation”

Now there are a couple more final images that Von Wong shares on his blog that are worth looking but I really wanted to share more behind the scene shots.

Von Wong used the ambulance to protect his gear and also act as a large soft box.
Von Wong taking the shot while the crew films
The ambulance was said to be quite useful transporting the props

Von Wong getting the shot
Setting up the shot

The ambulance wouldn’t have been my first choice of chasing vehicle but it looked to be the perfect vehicle to get the gear, props, and people where they needed to be to get the shot.

Below is the gear used to shoot the final images as well as the behind the scenes video. I bet no Phantom was flown into the storm :)

In the bags!

Following Von Wong for as long as I have, one tends to notice he knows his gear as well as knowing how to use it!

Broncolor made Ben a brand ambassador and even more importantly he uses the same tripod I use. Ok, that probably isn’t that important but the 3LT “Brian” is such a great tripod! Its always good to see gear get put to the test especially in environments such as a storm!

Here is a video with Von Wong talking about the project as well as showing some behind the scenes footage.

[Von Wong]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Winning photos of 2019 Environmental Photographer of the Year show devastating impact of climate change Google Earth’s new timelapse feature lets you see the climate change impact over four decades Image of flying geese highlighting impact of climate change wins Drone Awards 2021 This Epic Storm Timelapse Will Make You Want To Get Close And Personal with A Storm

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: Benjamin Von Wong, Climate, portrait, Storm chasing

« Capture One Pro 9’s New Feature Set Looks to Take On Lightroom
Why Did It Change? »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Here’s a bullet time video booth you can build yourself
  • Ricoh has discontinued the HD PENTAX-DA 21mm F3.2AL Limited silver lens
  • This “stellar flower” unravels the twilight’s evolution in 360 degrees
  • Strobes vs Continuous LEDs – Which is right for you?
  • Wave goodbye to Apple’s My Photo Stream next month

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy