Extreme Weather: A Path of Artistry and Authenticity

Get ready for this electrifying episode with Lori Grace Bailey, professional photographer, and storm chaser who not only survived being struck by lightning but has an incredible story to tell!

In this eye-opening conversation, we delve into Lori's incredible journey, from chasing tornadoes and capturing lightning strikes to facing dramatic dust walls in the Southwest. Her passion is as fierce as the storms she photographs.

As a Hispanic Trans woman, Lori's story is a testament to courage and unwavering determination. She's on a mission to empower artists and amplify diverse voices, seeing social media as a tool to showcase up-and-coming talent.

Lori reveals the keys to safe storm chasing, the daring mindset needed, and the transformational force of embracing authenticity.

Lori's journey beautifully illustrates how art can mirror life in the most captivating and powerful ways. Don't miss this inspiring conversation!⚡

Links

The Light and Lightning of Lori Grace Bailey
Lori Grace Bailey Featured On CBS Sunday
When nature strikes, this storm chaser is usually with striking distance

Podcast Transcript

Pat

Fill To Capacity. Crazy, good stories and timely topics. A podcast for people too stubborn to quit and to creative not to make a difference Inspiring, irreverent and informative. Stay tuned. Hi, I'm Pat Benincasa and welcome to Fill To Capacity. Today's episode, "Extreme Weather A path of artistry and authenticity.

My guest is Lori Grace Bailey, a professional photographer and storm chaser who takes jaw dropping photos and time lapse images of extreme weather and extraordinary skies. Her work has been featured in Cosmopolitan and Backpacker magazines. She was interviewed by David Pogue for a story on lightning that aired on CBS Sunday. Now you're not going to believe this, but Lori is a lightning strike survivor after being nearly killed by a bolt in 2001. Whether it's chasing Midwest tornadoes and supercells, or huge, dramatic dust walls in the Southwest, or luminous red orange flashes above thunderstorm clouds when conditions are right, Lori's passionate dedication of pursuing extreme weather allows her to consistently capture powerful, evocative images.

And I'm going to add to this, Lori is a Hispanic Trans woman who dedicates much of her time to empowering artists and diverse voices. Using social media, she brings together women, LGBTQ individuals and other underrepresented groups. Okay, I just got to add this. Lori is also the director of Monsoon Con, an annual convention in Tucson, Arizona, that brings together photographers and weather enthusiasts, with an emphasis on storm chasing with success. Now, listeners, if you thought Jo in the 1996 movie "Twister was a force to be reckoned with, I want you to meet Lori Grace Bailey. Welcome.

Lori

Oh my goodness, Pat, thank you so much for that introduction, the biography of who you just talked to. It actually sounds like something from a crazy person like who is that person there? They must be absolutely insane. I was like, oh yeah, that's me. Oops, well, that's what.

Pat

I'm about to explore Lori. That's what I want to find out.

Lori

People wonder that. You know, I was struck by lightning. But and then they wonder how can you chase lightning and storms after you were nearly killed by it? So maybe we'll get into that.

Pat

Yes, we will. So you're a professional photographer. You do weddings, events and portraits, but in 2015, you started photographing extreme weather. That inspired you to make this change?

Lori

You know, Pat, what I realized was that I've always had a passion for weather and it always comes back to the earliest memories of my mother who raised four of us kids when she moved out and divorced my father, who was an alcoholic just a really tough time for her. And she took the four of us on and raised four kids on her own back in the 70s. And I just remember the little bit of time that she had as I was nine, 10, 11 years old. I remember her taking me to the park when she could and we would just watch the clouds roll in in the West Texas deserts and we'd watch these storms brew. She kind of honed in my passion for weather and she would tell me you know, what do you see in the sky? And we'd see dinosaurs and Mickey Mouse and the craziest cool things. I think that was the key to the beginning of my imagination being enhanced and I just thought that was so cool and I always kept that and my dad, of course, always kept the weather channel on. He loved weather too. And then you're right, Jo, oh my gosh. From "Twister.

Yes, yes, Every storm chaser loves Twister. It's not scientifically accurate, but we don't care, we give it a pass. It's still cool. There's a Twister Museum in Oklahoma and it's just the coolest thing. I still haven't visited it yet, but there's even a Twister pinball machine. No, no kidding, Bill Paxton gave to it them in Wakita, to the museum, and it's there, and I got to get there one of these days. That's kind of where it came from. You know, in 2015, I had all this really cool professional photography gear. You know I could take great pictures of people with it. And then I also realized we have some of the best skies here in Arizona during the monsoon season, and so I started pointing that to the sky, and all of a sudden, my passion just exploded for wanting to continue to point these at the sky, even though I was struck by lightning.

Pat

Well, you know there's something about following your creative path that every fiber of your being knows. You know when you're supposed to be doing this. Now you use the word "monsoon and when I started researching what you do, I thought monsoon meant, like South Asian countries, like India, bangladesh, and the seasonal changes of rains. What is an Arizona monsoon?

Lori

You know that's a great question because most people do think of massive flooding events and things that sweep cities away in India. But you actually nailed it. A monsoon is a seasonal change in winds that bring in moisture, and that actually happens here. We don't call ours just the monsoon. Here in the Western states it's actually referred to as the North American Monsoon, the NAM and N-A-M. It's the actual terminology for it and it's again. It's a seasonal shift in winds and during the summer months high pressure sets.

I know this is nerd talk, I'm sorry, but it's high pressure will set up around the four corners you know New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona and it sets up right in that area, oftentimes not quite perfect, but when it does it strengthens that flow to turn that tropical moisture that's down into deep into Mexico and pulls it north into the United States and the most beautiful storms, Pat, here in the desert Southwest are transformed. The saguaro cacti are just all of a sudden illuminated, back illuminated with thunderstorms and beautiful colors. That sense that once you get hooked, like all the chasers here in Arizona and New Mexico, once you actually go out, even if you're not a photographer, just enjoying it. Just ask any Tucsonian or someone from Phoenix or anyone in Arizona about the weather and they will tell you that that's one of the reasons that they love to live here.

Pat

Now, I'm not a storm chaser, okay, but I love stormy skies. I can see the magic of it. That's like watching nature's paintings in action.

Lori

Exactly, you know you hit the head on the nail and that's what I try to do with my photography, is that instead of using a brush, I try to use my camera to create art right. And it's as almost as quote easy. But it's not easy to get that right moment and the right storm and the right color. But when you work hard at it, like I've been doing for years and years, and the persistence of it and the many failures right, Like I'll drive 300 miles some days and get nothing and have clear skies and drive home telling myself I'm done, I quit. And then, of course, by one o'clock in the morning I'm looking at the models again on my phone like, oh, I'm going to have to chase today because there's moisture again coming into the room and it's crazy.

Pat

So when you are getting ready to go out for a shoot, how do you mentally prepare for each chase?

Lori

You know, Pat, it's kind of a cycle. Once you kind of get into the groove of things, it just becomes kind of routine. I think the hard part is understanding how to go ahead and forecast. Most of us aren't actual meteorologists and we're not going to just go by what the weather service says. Right, yeah, the news on TV we're going to have a 30% chance of storms. That doesn't mean no good, because how am I going to point my camera at the right storm at the right time and get that magnificent lightning bolt and scene and have it all come together? And that takes some time and effort and that's where the persistence kicks in and the diligence. Right, you have to, you just have to keep at it.

And that's like anything, that's like being an artist, that's like learning a craft of anything. My father was a guitarist and fisherman and all these different things, and I watched. Even though my parents were separated, I still love the fact that whatever he put his heart to he was really good at, and so I play music now and I play guitar and piano and I love doing all of that stuff. Maybe I do too much of everything and not enough focus on one thing. But the one thing that I do love to focus on, especially over the last several years, is storm chasing, because it's an adrenaline rush and I love it.

Pat

Lori, your work shows it. When you look, oh my God, looking at your work. It's an experience. I mean, you really captured that power. I was curious, like do you have a lot of equipment in your house? I mean, do you have all these dials and things?

Lori

Maybe too many. I guess, my wife, sometimes when I want that next gadget, that next cool thing, I have to kind of prove that it's going to augment the arsenal that I already have. And the problem with storm chasing is that you're not only putting yourself at risk, but all this gear. I have lost thousands of dollars in gear when this $5,000 camera and lens gets lifted up off the tripod because this huge gust of wind comes and turns it into a helicopter and flips it over and smashes it to the ground.

There are a lot of weeping days when you see your camera and you have to send it in and pray that it can get fixed. A lot of the stuff it's just over time and I have to tell people you don't have to be rich, you don't have to get the most expensive gear to enjoy and even capture some amazing images. A lot of the photos I take are with my iPhone and the ones that I share immediately on Twitter and stuff, and I kind of have a feel for it and I've seen some folks with very little to just using their phone. So it's really cool to see people, friends and anybody that wants to do this, to just start off with even just a phone or a very inexpensive DSLR and then dart from scratch and slowly build your kit. But it doesn't require a lot of money, or it could If you, if you want to spend a lot of money and invest on the best of lenses to capture some really good shots, you can do that too.

Pat

That was a question I was going to ask you for someone who says, hey, I want to do this, but they don't have a lot of money. These cameras on the phones are phenomenal, so if they don't have a lot of money, they can use an iPhone. What other basic would they need? Like, would they need a car that can really work so you can get the hell out of there when the storm is coming at you?

Lori

I love the fact that you brought up safety as the as the first thing right.

Pat

Oh yeah.

Lori

OK, it's great that you have this gear, but how are you going to stay alive in the storm? And you would think that most people, when they see a severe storm, that they run in the in the opposite direction, they get out of there and the warnings come out and say take shelter. And you look at a storm chaser like myself and I'm going to the storm while everybody's going the opposite direction. But the object is to do this safely and, yes, I hate to say it in such a canned way, but it's a mitigated risk, right, like you learn after a while. You don't have to be right up in the storm in the danger zone to capture beautiful images, and that's what I recommend.

I don't consider myself necessarily a storm chaser, as much as a storm photographer. That means I can sit back a little bit, I can make the scene kind of a movie scene and I can watch the storm go in front of me and I can eat the popcorn as I'm capturing all these beautiful images. Or I can get a little crazy and get a little closer and really take some risks and get these lightning bolts that are landing within half a mile to a quarter of a mile from me. I've done that too, and it's all about how much risk you're willing to take and then you can step back. Though you can do this safely.

You just have to follow some basic rules and always trust your gut. If it doesn't feel safe, get out of there. You got to trust your gut, and I think that applies to everything in life. It's learning to have really good situational awareness, and sometimes you can be fixated on this beautiful storm. And for me, composition and you know you've seen my images I try to really crunch and let the little gerbils inside my brain devise a really great composition and hopefully capture a really great shot. But at the same time, I've learned, and thanks to my wife. She says take a breath. I've seen you get into some situations and you just got to step back and breathe right, and she's right. You've got to pull yourself away from the scene and ask yourself what am I doing right? And if there's something wrong, then get out of there. You don't need to put yourself in harm's way just for a photo.

Pat

I'm curious, Lori, did you have to learn that? I mean, did you always have this kind of common sense? Or did you just go after the storms and realize wait a minute, there has to be a better way, a safer way there's always room for improvement, right?

Lori

I tell people who want to do this and even just become a photographer, like you know,Lori, I just want to learn to take really good pictures, and I think it starts with that. It doesn't have to even be on a storm, someone can learn. In fact, when our kids were born, back in 1999 and 2003, I bought my first DSLR and I started taking pictures of the kids and, of course, I had thousands of pictures of the kids and then I started to realize that this camera, this really cool camera, can take really great pictures of the flowers, macro pictures. And then I saw a coyote in the desert and zoomed in and took a picture of a cool coyote and a ferruginous hawk flying in the air. Like this is cool, this is cool stuff. And so you just slowly build.

I'll tell you, Pat, modern technology, youtube, there's so much stuff out there that's just free. I have spent money on classes you know these online learning things and that's great, but I have learned so much from just watching other people do it on YouTube videos. Hanging out with the right people is so important to you know. Find people that love what you love and stick with those people, especially the ones who are willing to just give away that knowledge.

You know, that's something that I'm passionate about is, once it's taken me so long to learn what I've learned, I want others to be able to have that same knowledge and not have to go through the gatekeeping that some communities are like, yeah, I'm storm chasers will be like, well, I'm not going to share what it took to do this. And while there still is some really tough, tricky situations like shooting something known as sprites or blue jets, which are, it's an even different beast in and of itself there's so much knowledge that I just want to be able to impart to others so that they're not having to just learn by failing, failing forward. I'd rather just give them those tools, and that's why I begin that conference called Monsoon Con and do that so that we can just invite all these people to come together and we have this full day of speakers that are just sharing all this knowledge and everybody that comes has such a great time. Just imagine a bunch of storm chasing and photographer geeks all in one venue for a whole day. It's a good time.

Pat

You know, Lori, you bring up a good point for anybody who's creative and when I say that you could be creative, you know, in any field I think one of the most important things is who you surround yourself with. That, to me, is as important as the paint brushes I use, because if you have a system of people who are respectful and admire what you do, you can do shop talk, you can do anything you want, but having those people that are positive about what you do in support of I'm glad you brought that up that's really important.

Lori

Pat, you again. You hit the nail on the head with that, because for me, I've put myself in the wrong path many times. Right, I think we all do. We have to be careful. It's almost like shopping for a mechanic, right? If you find yourself in the wrong spot, they're going to just take you for a ride, and but once you find the right mechanic, it kind of kind of also applies to once you find the right kind of group of people, not that they're going to just say yes and ooh, your stuff's wonderful. You have family on Facebook that'll tell you that your worst photo is wonderful. Right, you have those people. You don't need that. You need someone who's going to be constructive, but support you, and it supports you through the thick and the thin and maybe even go out there and chase with you. You know like-minded people, but it is to have that support structure.

I didn't do this. I didn't find success easily. I would say for every one great photo that I've taken, it's got to be hundreds, if not thousands, of photos that that were just garbage. And failure pushes me down. I still don't consider myself where I want to be and, honestly, I've allowed myself to digest that frustration and I've told myself each and every year, if I don't do better than I did last year, if I can't excel and exceed those expectations from the previous year, I'm going to quit. And that's scary, and I've done that for the last two years and it's really raised the bar for me.

But it wasn't because I compared myself to my friends who take really great photos also, I finally decided to stop. You know, that whole comparison is the thief of joy, so true, and I've stopped doing that now and I want to praise and support others when they do well too. So I've decided I know what I like. I like I know the kind of look and composition and edit that I like for my own photos. There's not a better compliment for me when someone says Lori, as soon as I saw your photo on Twitter or Instagram, I knew it was yours, even without seeing the name. Oh, I just want to like, hug and embrace that person Because that tells me that I have a look, that I have, yeah, an art style that people notice, even though it's lightning.

Lightning is lightning and the sky is the sky, but I have a unique way of capturing it, a unique way of editing it. So I'm proud of how far I've come, but we just have to keep striving. There's so much failure that there's so many voices, but the worst voice is that little devil on the side of our bodies that tell you that you're not enough, that you're worthless, you suck, you should just quit. That little devil is the worst little creature, worse than anything anybody online could say or the trolls could say, and so you have to really fight against that. That's really the key for me.

Pat

I think you're really touching on something for every artist, creative person, that inner voice. Now, either you stand with yourself or against yourself, but you can't make art when you're against yourself. You can't take magnificent photos when you're against yourself. And I love how you talk about I'm done comparing myself to other people. On a level, when you build there's a bubble and when the bubble is at set point, it's perfect and I always think about that. I want to be at set point and that's not to say what we do. We don't get like jarred and tilted but eventually we come back to set point and do what we were made to do: make art, make photographs. That's really the return right there.

Lori

I love that. And you know, I heard something online the other day and it was just someone was speaking to a group of people and he just said something very simple. He said successful people do the hard things, they just do the hard things. Not that it's a difficult task, it's that they see something, they see the challenge and they step into it, and they do it, afraid right. I think Will Smith said that if you're afraid to do something, do it afraid Right, do it with the fear. And you know an old pastor I remember he was discussing faith in a similar way and this isn't a religious idea, it's just the thought of overcoming, to be able to overcome something that fear, with faith is just like an airplane in order to overcome it. The fear is still there, it's gravity, still exists, but we have to spread our wings and we have to use the air to overcome. You know the fear that continues to try to pull us down, boy, if I could just tell my younger self it's going to be OK.

Pat

Right

Lori

Someone told me the other day that you are the person that you needed when you were a kid.

I would hug myself and say it's OK, baby you know, you're not alone, and what you're feeling today is you're not alone in the world, feeling like you do, and it's going to be OK.

Pat

And oh absolutely so much to contribute to the world, you know sometimes I think of my younger self and all the hellraising and the trouble I got into. But when I look at that kid sometimes I say thank you, you got me here. You know that attitude like F you, I'm going to do it anyways. You know, tell me that I can't do it, that's waving a red flag. I'll do it and I think that's just part of the passion of really learning who we are, and we do it through our work.

Lori

I mean, isn't that kind of the definition of authenticity? When you can create something that you're working with because it's your passion, whatever it is, whether it's a song or a canvas or whatever it is, or through your voice or through a photo, and for someone to see a very unique interpretation of that? Your authenticity is a reflection of that, and I just hope that these skies, these amazing skies whether it's a tornado or the darkness of an impending supercell scraping across the Great Plains, or if it's a beautiful Arizona sunset with lightning shining through the background I hope that people see the authenticity of it. One of my favorite photos that I captured a few years ago. I've called it the Passionate Pursuit.

Pat

I saw that one.

Lori

Did you see it I don'teven think that those two words really are supposed to go together, but for me it's not just about the pursuit, it's not just the thrill of the chase either, but it's the passion behind it and getting to it, and it involves just constantly losing and eventually finding that.

When I think that message I know you mentioned that I'm a Trans person. I think it goes with that, because I think authenticity is everything. All our lives, we're trying to be what others want us to be, and I think it really just comes down to just be yourself. Right, Dr Seuss? All you need to do is be yourself and rest in that. Look in your, look in the mirror, tell yourself I love you and rest in just being who you are and that's enough. And when you can start from there, when you finally have that, it's almost like everything starts in technicolor. That's what happened with me and that's the best way that I explained my own transition. It was like, all of a sudden, life was just black and white, and, yes, there were some cool things in black and white, but the moment I began that journey, everything was in technicolor. And soon after that, guess what happened? My passion for chasing storms was ignited, my passion for photography was ignited and my passion for playing music again and doing all these different things, yeah it's really cool.

And then you realize, holy crap, I'm probably past the halfway mark in my life. How much have I missed. Uh-oh, I need to catch up, because I could be gone tomorrow, right? And so why not take a chance? Why not shoot your shot? Why not get in front of that storm and maybe take a little bit of a risk? Because everything's a risk, right? People get on motorcycles every day. When people tell me you know it's too dangerous to chase a storm or a tornado, I just tell them well, you can tell me that when you stop, when you get off your Kawasaki Ninja, that you ride every day on your motorcycle. So we all take risks.

Pat

We do. And that brings me I want to ask. You survived a lightning strike in 2001. Can you walk us through what happened that day and how has this lightning strike influenced you? Were there after effects.

Lori

There were, there are, and I'll tell you what those are. So my story with getting struck by lightning is kind of interesting, but as much as I can share. I was working at a company and there was a company truck that was parked in the side of the road and I didn't know what was going on. So I got out of the vehicle my other vehicle to take a look and somebody had gotten out of his vehicle to to go underneath the bridge and go to the bathroom or something. I was outside of the truck, a storm was brewing over the town and a bolt, just I just felt this bright white light all around me and this instant electricity coursing through my bones. Yes, I felt it. I remember feeling it, and this white light was it's almost like that little purplish fluorescent. It's kind of weird to describe but it's almost like that fluorescent bulb. If you're staring up at a department store and you're looking at those fluorescent bulbs as they streak across the store, it was kind of that purplish white, that little bit of tinge of purple, and it just surrounded me. I thought I was going to get beamed up or something, but it was just this immediate pain coursing through my body and it was instant, and I had a couple of people in my vehicle that were watching and they watched me. It happened to me and I just remember thinking to myself. At the same time there was a thunderous crash, instant, right on top of me and I just remember shaking, thinking that was close, and then when I went back to my vehicle, they were like are you okay? I was like I think so and they said we saw you get struck by lightning. We saw lightning hit and it was too big of a flash, but it might have hit the vehicle too and I got splashed with it or there's a lot of ways people get struck by lightning and shocked by lightning.

When I went back to work I ended up getting looked at. I was told to go to the hospital. They whisked me back and my wife came and she was giving me the sign of the cross. I was like, hey, I'm not dying today, I don't need last rites or anything. She was worried. Bless her heart. But after they checked me out and everything, the doctor didn't really know. It was a small little town and the doctor said well, with lightning strike victims, you're either dead or alive. So congratulations.

I was beginning to feel a huge soreness all over my body, especially the left half of my body. I have a feeling that lightning course through the left side of my body. I can't explain it, but my left leg and my left arm and the left side of my chest was really getting sore. The doctor said oh, you're going to be sore because the electricity courses through your body and it constricts all the muscles. The very next day he was right I couldn't get out of bed. I was in so much pain. It took me an hour just to get out of bed to come to breakfast.

But the worst part about it is I immediately noticed massive short-term memory loss and so to this day I can. Yes, we all get a little old and we all forget our keys and the phone and everything. But it's a lot worse for me and I try to hide it but I still do it. People think that I'm just very absent-minded, I'm very dim-witted sometimes and I don't think people tell me that. But I know it and I see it. I see myself put my keys down and two seconds later I'm going. Where are my keys? Or my glasses are on my head, and ordinarily most people would dismiss an event like that like, oh, they're just little absent-minded, but it happens to me so so often and I really am. I've done everything that I can to try to combat it. So when I put the keys down, when in the middle of a conversation inside my head I'll say keys are on the table, keys are on the table, keys are on the table. Keys are on the table and I'm trying to kick my short-term memory to remember where they are. But it's really frustrating.

And it happened right after that and when I became a part of Lightning Strike and Electroshock victims. People get electrocuted by telephone or power lines and things like that. There are actual victims out there, lightning Strike Survivor associations and all the people say the same thing. Many of the people have similar effects if they survive, and surprisingly, most people survive Lightning Strikes. But the problem is just like when Lightning courses through your house. If it hits your power, you can lose a TV or it can mess up your computer, things like that. Well, our brains are our computer and that's what happens when we get 50,000 kilojoules coursing through our brains for a millisecond.

And so, sadly, I used to have a lot of migraines. I don't anymore. I think it was transition, but I don't know what happened there, but I don't have migraines as much anymore. So, sadly, there are a lot of people that still get struck by Lightning each and every year and there are a lot of injuries. Some people do have the burn marks, others don't.

There's just a host of different ways that you can be struck and killed by Lightning and you could be at a fence two miles away and Lightning can strike a fence two miles away.

That lightning will course down the fence and still strike someone and shock somebody, and it happens all the time. So as a part of this the great thing about being a storm spotter I'm actually a trained storm spotter for the National Weather Service and there are many people you can sign up for the training. But since I'm out there already, I can contact the National Weather Service as a trained spotter and say there is this big storm creating all this severe weather, and it gives them boots on the ground, so to speak, and it gives them a set of eyes. And so they have a lot of people, especially who are storm chasers, who do this for a living and they're quick to call it in. They can see a tornado when radar might not be able to because of the whatever reason, and so I love the fact that I can also talk about storm safety and weather safety, and I want people to be safe and I want them to live another day.

Pat

I have to ask do you ever get a jolt of fear when you're out there photographing beautiful array of lightning strikes? Do you get scared? Does it ever happen?

Lori

Yes, every single season. If you've seen some of the up-close lightning that I've captured, I have taken some really, really close risks. Usually I'll try and get in the car and let the camera do the job right, because if lightning hits a camera, no big deal. Yeah, call it a day and thank whoever the maker, or thank the heavens or whatever you want and call it a day. But I have a special way of trying to capture lightning very up close and I think that the way lightning looks with a unique lens creates just such a beauty. I think there's a new form of art to it. But you've got to be pretty close or that bolt has to land pretty close, and so I don't recommend it. And I don't do it when other people are with me, because we go out there storm chasing with friends or workshops and I take people out there and again, that's something that you got to be willing to do if that's something that you want, if you want that kind of shot. But otherwise you can step back and use a zoom lens and still get close and still get a really pretty shot. But there are days, especially you're out there, the risk is there just because of the fact that lightning can strike miles outside of the storm. You know what they call those bolts that just shoot outside of a storm? They call them "Bolts From the Blue Because oftentimes kids will be playing baseball, the storm is five miles away and lightning will strike in the field. That happens and I've almost been.

I have one video where I was it's online somewhere where I was almost struck by a bolt from the blue. The storm was five miles away, a severe, sworn storm. I was nowhere near where it was raining and I was actually talking about to share a video talking about how lightning on this storm is shooting outside of it. And when a bolt struck right across the hill from me and you could see it just light up, it hit the ground and it must have created a huge package of folgerite. When lightning hits the ground, the dirt turns to kind of a crystal form and some people have dug that kind of stuff out and it turns it into a new mineral called folgerite. They collect those and that's kind of cool. I should have dug it out, but it was near a church so I didn't go over there.

Pat

Well, I want to shift gears a little bit. Climate central.com reported on tornado trends and it said severe storms account for nearly half of US billion dollar weather disasters since 1980. There is a six-fold increase between 2001 and 2022. They're saying this trend is expected to continue as the climate warms and that leads to more threats of supercells tornadoes in areas that are not used to having such storms. These conditions now are stretching into traditionally quieter winter months, notably impacting southeast and the mid-south regions. How do these weather changes affect you? Have you felt this increase?

Lori

I'm going to start off by saying I'm not a climatologist. When I'm reporting what's going on at the moment, that's weather. I think whoever is trying to understand climate change should always start with that basic understanding, because I see even politicians not even understanding the difference between climate and weather. Weather that happens over time, that's a change of weather. That's climate when it's happening on this day and all of a sudden there's tornadoes in September or October and it's happening on that day. That's weather. That repeated and constant, consistent change over time. That's climate. And you're starting to see climate changing in different areas. I'm not an expert to speak to that. I will say that I have seen that there seems to be a trend with tornado alley, as it used to be known. You used to think the Great Plains in Cornfield. If you look at the charts, tornado alley is shifting further south and east into the southeastern states, more like Mississippi and Alabama are trending higher for tornadoes. But we also in those statistics that you were quoting, especially about damage due to severe weather. You also have to remember that people are building in. We're seeing an increase in these larger towns growing in the southeast. So many of these towns are building in just such sprawl. There's so much sprawl all over the place that when severe weather happens, a tornado now has more to chew up right. Instead of the trees and the fields, now those are homes and people, and so we're seeing that happening with the expansion and the growth of cities into these rural areas and these once farm areas. We're now seeing cities growing through that. So it's bound to happen more often, just because of the fact that we have so much growth in the United States of these little cities. So you have to take all of that into account.

It's my belief, just since I've been shooting, that we're seeing a lot hotter and warmer temperatures, especially for the desert south. Do you know? It was almost 100 today here near Tucson, our last 100 degree day, and again I'm talking about weather. Why? Because it's just what we've seen just this year, that trend. I'm not used to this. I've been here since 1997 in Arizona. I had to take a shower before this podcast, right, just because it's so dang hot and it's October. I've never experienced it where it's still almost 100 degrees this late in the game and it's like OK, it used to be an anomaly. Now every year it's almost the same temperature. So I'm hoping for cooler temperatures, but unfortunately it does not look like we're trending that way, yeah for whatever reason, I think that the hotter times, we're going to see bigger droughts.

My experience is that that our monsoons are worse some years and then, when we do get them, then I get incredible storms is what I've noticed. The storms that I've shot have been just amazingly and bigger than when I see them, but then when the monsoon goes away, the drought comes in. Yeah, I think we're seeing bigger pattern shifts. So so bigger rains, but then the bigger droughts at the same time. But again, I'm I'm not speaking as an expert, I'm speaking of what I'm observing.

Pat

You mentioned earlier, you use the word gatekeeper Now, one of the offshoots of covid, at least in the arts. It got rid of a lot of the gatekeepers. Galleries were closed, orchestras were closed, bookstores were closed, so artists, writers, performers went to the Internet. If you want an exhibition, you did it online, so you kind of bypassed around traditional gatekeepers and we're seeing differences of how that's playing out in the arts. You spend a lot of your time trying to empower artists who are underrepresented and from diverse backgrounds. Given the shift away from gatekeepers, how do you see doing that now? Do you find that you have more venues to give folks a voice or attention?

Lori

You know that that's a real tricky question. I think it merits a cautious answer, ok, because it's really difficult, right? Like you mentioned, those galleries and traditional media, from galleries to prints and the way that we've been doing it up until the last five years. Even and that was something that I haven't even stepped into yet Do I want to have my art exhibited in gallery. I love that. I've never even had that chance and, honestly, raising two kids and just trying to go through the motions and trying to stay sane and then when the storm season hits, I'm on the road, I'm trying as much as I can, trying to capture that, but I still see just such an underrepresentation in art and the art forms and that's why I wanted to elevate others and I still have plans and I still do support all these artists, especially who are up and coming and rising, but I still think there's place for underrepresented artists that need to be captured, because I've seen the power of digital content, right. I've seen the power of using the internet to share your art. My own platform on Twitter and Instagram have all grown because I shared my art, in fact, that's how the CBS story came to be. They observed my art.... and I had the opportunity to take the CBS Crew out for a storm chase.and sadly there was a hurricane pushing through that day, but we didn't exactly get lightning, but it was kind of cool still and we ended up getting a really cool story out of it, and David Pogue was just a veritable gentleman, and so it was such a blast. So these opportunities are out there, especially online, and people are seizing that opportunity.

But I still see the underrepresentation from LGBTQ. I see BIPOC individuals still. I still see gatekeeping, even in an online world, and I want that to be minimized. I want, I want the gates to disappear, and so I really think it's important that we elevate these artists. It doesn't mean that one person's art is worse than the others. I just think that if we can just take that spotlight and shine it and everyone can see these other people's art, then they're also going to have that same opportunity, and that's what I want to see.

I want to see everybody on that equal footing and on a digital, on a digital level, to have that equal opportunity to get their art and let that be seen, because there is beautiful art everywhere, and it seems like everywhere that I turn to where it's not typically known, that you're just going to find, in some of the coolest corners of the Internet.

You're going to find some incredible art, and that was what I'm trying to accomplish, but I still think we have a long way to go. Moving that needle is far beyond me, but I think more and more people are looking to that and I think that eventually, if more people like myself can just stand into our own powers and take up space right, you deserve to be online, just to have your art shared online, just as much as anybody else. We can't just wait to be platformed. You have to step into that power and say my art kicks, but and I'm going to share it with the world, and to step into that power and take up space. And when we do, when we take up those spaces in the digital realm, there won't be that need to find others to elevate and we can all find the empowerment that we need and just get out there and kick some serious butt.

Pat

Beautifully said. As we come to the end of our conversation, I've got to say, Lori, as an artist, your work seems to be autobiographical. It's a reflection of your journey, and I'm struck by the remarkable parallels between your life and your art, how they truly mirror each other. For instance, your resilience in weathering cultural and societal storms to embrace your authentic self as a Trans woman parallels your fearless pursuit of photographing extreme weather. It's as though you effortlessly move between worlds of metaphor and reality. Your images are more than pictures of lightning. They capture the raw power of the unbridled fury of nature itself. In timeless art, there's a profound element of truth that becomes a lens to reveal deeper meanings, and your work, Lori, holds that truth for all of us to see. Thank you, it's just such an honor to have you here.

Lori

Thank you so much. That, really, that truly means so much to me, and you know, honestly, you use the word effortlessly and and nothing in my life has been effortless, Right, there's been so much pain, so much hurt, so much self doubt. Yeah, it's, it's been a tough, it's been a tough ride, but you know it's again. You said talked about surrounding yourself with people who love you and support you. That is it, right. We need, everybody, needs the connections. We need people who will love us and support us.

And my wife, she knows that each and every day, she has supported me through thick and thin and she's my hero more than anybody in this world, and everybody deserves to have someone who's willing to just listen to them and to just say, hey, but you're not alone in this and, and so that's why I don't know, in some kind of weird way, I'm hoping that what you just described, that really means a lot to me, because you're trying to speak through your art and you're trying to give a message through your art, and the fact that I can do that in some indescribable way is a really cool feeling. I think that's worth more accolades, personal gratitude, than having someone in a gallery say your work is a 10 out of 10 or whatever.

Pat

Listen, I had been researching for the last six months because I wanted to do a storm chaser and I kept going back to yours. There was something. I'm an artist and my whole life has been devoted to making art, talking art, living art, and I know when I see something and I think, whoa, there's something different here, and I don't know what it is. All I know is I trust my gut, it's compelling. I shot you an email. Thank you for sharing your incredible work and insights with us today, laurie. It was really an eye opener. Thank you so much.

Lori

Thank you for having me, pat. This has been amazing, and you seem to have these really great questions that make the answers that I come up with and are just so, so effortless.

Pat

So there's the word again, the key about a masterpiece is that it looks like it's effortless and everything comes together, but any artist worth their salt knows what the hell went in to making that, what it is, what you described Wonderful.

Lori

Thank you so much, Pat.

Pat

Thank you and thank you listeners. If you enjoy today's podcast, please subscribe and or tell your friends. Thank you, bye.