05/24/11 - My Left Wiper

Photography to most people would seem like a simple endeavor.  1.  Aim camera at subject  2. Shoot  3. Repeat as necessary.   I, however, like to inject some difficulty factors into this skill set.  For starters I try to accomplish my photographic documentation of such exciting events as tornadogenesis WITHOUT the use of a camera.  You see, my camera has left me.  I think it ran off with the clock radio at the Enid Comfort Inn.  I was not aware of such unfaithful events until the moment John and I pulled up to our second "no sh*t" tornado of the trip.  This time we'd get pictures, complete dirt being pulled up into the funnel and the like.

As we slammed the SUV into park just east of Fairview Oklahoma, not one, but two tornadoes were dancing on the horizon.  With our windshield-mount video on record, and John's Nikon in full operation, I desperately searched for my trusty D-40 in the back seat.  No aqui!  The trunk?  Nada?  Noooo!  Where has my digital single-lens reflex gone, without me?  What would I do without her?  I had to resort to the ultimate low-tech geeky backup device...my Blackberry camera.  Oh, the humanity!  I snapped away, suffering the epitome of 2 megapixel disgrace.  To make things worse, John took a picture of me, taking pictures with my....gasp....phone!


My Left Wiper, and Some Tornado From FairView



To avoid the unescapable rath and humiliation from the storm chaser world (trust me, that is as low as it gets), I decided to instead shoot candid shots of the windshield wiper.  The tornado just happened to be in the background by chance.   While the thrill of witnessing a tornado in person is quite gratifying, the loss of something so special as an 8-year old, old school camera was more than I could take. 

Under the stress which accompanies the filming of such dramatic weather events, I was calm.  I took the appropriate action, at the appropriate time. I located our hotel receipt in the glove box, found the phone number, and called the front desk of the Comfort Inn, Enid.  After three rings, Brad answered.  I kept calm and articulated my desire to locate said camera in room 130.  Brad, ever the professional desk clerk, put the phone down and radioed the room attendent.  After muffled background chatter, Brad was happy to announce that my camera was indeed still bedside in room 130.  Glory be!

I told the desk guy that we would try to get back to Enid this afternoon.  Perhaps this tornado outbreak would dissipate and I could be reunited with my trusty SLR.  As it turned out that is essentially what happened.  As of yada-yada UTC (late night) it turns out that what we thought was THE tornado of the day was the most minor of the tornadoes reported in Oklahoma.  Our bagged F-minor twister was nice, but the best looking storms ended up south of I40.   Sad but true.  John and I raced ahead of the storms into Tulsa before calling it a day. We did see, maybe, another more major tornado....but it was hidden in the grits north of Hominy...so no pictures.   Back at the Holiday Inn Express....Downtown!   Did I mention I like these places?