Coming Soon…..MaryLou’s Great Rainbow Quest of 2015

Greetings Peeps!!!!

I can’t believe it has been sooooo long since I’ve written a blog entry. I started this page to record my little photography adventures and then I suddenly stopped writing. My humble bumble apologies. No I haven’t given up on photography adventures, but I seem to post them on FB and then forget to do a blog. I have to work on getting back to blogging.

As you my followers know, two years ago I checked a big item off my adventure bucket list. I went on a ten day storm chase and landscape photography trip and had the time of my life. I teamed up with Michael Phelps the owner and operator of StormScapeLive.TV from Dallas, GA and his tour coordinator / chase partner, Randy Walton from Scottsdale, AZ. Also along on that adventure was our friend Neely Gillcrist who traveled from Saint John, New Brunswick to join us. Unfortunately, just a few short weeks after that trip, Neely unexpectedly passed away leaving us all in total shock. I think that sadness was the reason I stopped writing about my adventures. Every time I came to the site there were my memories with Neely and it made me sad to know that she was no longer with us. I only knew Neely for about a year as a FB friend and we instantly became great friends on that trip. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of her and the special gifts she had for connecting with the birds and little creatures like squirrels and chipmunks.

Since then I ventured out and did a weekend Snowy Owl Quest in February of 2014 and then in July I made a weekend escape to the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Both of these trips gave me some great photographic moments and a chance to enhance my skills as a nature and landscape photographer. I’ve also done a few day trips to local beaches on the South shore of Massachusetts and visits with my favorite water fowl at DW Fields Park in Brockton, and I also frequently visit my friendly Highland Bull in West Bridgewater and several local farms to see my buds (the cows).

This winter was one of snowiest on record in Boston and as much as I tried, I still have yet to master capturing a snowflake. I think I need some lessons in macro photography. I’ve toyed with the idea of upgrading to a DSLR camera but I’ve opted to put that on hold for a bit longer as I’ve been saving up for my next great adventure which is just 3 weeks away! EEEEKKKKKK!

Yes I am teaming up with the boys at StormScapeLive again for another storm chase-cation. I’m calling this trip “The Great Rainbow Quest of 2015” Hehehehe! I saw so many rainbows on my last trip and I capture one that just blew me away. I doubt I will ever capture another one like it, but you never know what God has in store! And maybe Neely will toss us the most vibrant rainbow ever seen by humans, so that’s why I’m calling it the great rainbow quest.

Joining us on this trip will be Jennifer Lucas of Mackay, Queensland, Australia. Jen works as an ER nurse and is an avid weather watcher and local chaser in her area. She keeps us updated on the weather and hurricanes that hit the land down under. We have another international travel who hails from Norwich, Norfolk in the United Kingdom, Thomas Dolman. Thomas is an avid severe weather watcher and photographer and has been saving up for this trip for several years. And our third traveler joining us is Eric Goodson who hails from Raleigh, North Carolina. Eric is a software project manager at IBM and he has always had an interest in storm chasing and is looking forward to his first opportunity to chase out in the plains where he can combine his love of photography and weather. He told me he is excited at the prospects of photographing tornadic supercells that are not obscured by city haze and trees.

So keep your eyes open for blog alerts in June. I will be blogging from the road and I may not get to post my entries on a daily basis but I will make an entry about each day. We most likely will be chasing in the high plains and I ask that you keep us in your prayers that the storms stay out in the fields where they have plenty of room to blow off their energy and not destroy any farmsteads or any towns or cities as they tend to do in the lower plains. I’m not exactly sure where we will be as it all depends on how the weather forecasts go and if there are no storms to chase, we will be visiting the best local attractions, national and state parks and any natural landmarks / point of interest that are in the area.
We will also be getting hands on training on what to look for in severe weather, how to read the weather charts and learn how to set up streaming equipment and be a part of the daily forecasting discussions. I have always had a love of clouds and watching them float by as they grow and change shape especially those in thunder storms. On the last trip I did a lot of listening to Mike and Randy discuss where to chase and why each one felt their choice was the right one. We never caught an actual tornado that time out but we did see some spectacular structure especially the beast in Sasckatchewan, Canada. My favorite!

So that’s it in a nut shell!  I meet up with the team in Denver and hit the road on Sunday, June 7th. Until then, be well and keep your eyes out for the blog posts!