Tornado Pictures From Last Thursday!

This was our "Visitor" from last Thursday Afternoon, January 21st ... Sorry the pictures aren't more clear, but I wanted you to get an idea of what we saw from our neighborhood!  Craig came in from work around 5:30... "Did you know that we are under a Tornado Warning?" ... He walked back outside and then came back in... "You've got to come and see this!..." I thought it was going to be just a strange looking sky... I had no idea! Once I saw, I ran back inside and grabbed my Camera!!  It was the strangest thing... We watched it circling around ... I was shaking and trying to take pictures at the same time... We could tell it was moving to our left and not towards us and we just followed it towards our backyard...  I asked Craig two things... "Should we be in a closet instead of out here taking pictures?" ... and I kept looking towards my back door, and then I asked "If we had to, can we jump the fence and run fast enough to get to the back door?" (if it happened to change directions) ...  The Tornado would circle up... then back down... I had never seen anything like this before... ~ We found out later that this is the Tornado that came through the Five Points Area (It caused a great deal of damage in that area about 10 minutes before we saw it), which is only about 5-7 miles from our house. It skirted across Chapman Mountain which is also just "down the street" from us... 

I kept trying to adjust my shutter and aperture, while keeping my "eye on the storm", I was afraid that I wasn't getting any clear images and I knew that I was having to take them fast. That was so frustrating to me! I was having to deal with not enough light and needing my flash... All detrimental... Bummer... I need a class and I didn't even know that I was interested! Normally I would have been more concerned about getting in the closet, I surprised myself. Craig is usually the Storm Chaser on his own!! LOL! Too funny... :) ... and he could care less if he had a camera or not, he just likes storms!

As I checked my frames I discovered that only "3" minutes had lapsed from the first frame until the last frame!  That was amazing to me!!  I knew it was only a matter of minutes, but I had no idea it was only "3" !!!   I am also amazed that all I kept thinking was "Get the Picture!!". 

The Local Huntsville News Stations showed a lot of coverage, and photos that were taken showing the damage in the Five Points Area. My husband, Craig also read that this Tornado was the "Most Covered Tornado" on record. I believe that is due largely to the time of day (rush hour) and the fact that so many photos were taken using cell phones. I saw some remarkeable photos on the Local News Websites!

As for this photographer, who wants to get in on it all... I'll stand alert... waiting on my next opportunity to "Stop a Moment in Time" ... or "Capture a Memory", even if it's one of a Tornado!!

Tina :) ...