I don’t have much of a method for how I end up befriending some photographers whom I’ve never met in person. Through one form of coincidence in timing or another, I am fortunate enough to see one of their images. This creates a spike in curiosity to see whether the quality of the image is a fluke, like a one hit wonder, or whether this person has an entire collection of fantastic work. When the latter is the case, I get really excited and reach out to that photographer. I love meeting amazing photographers because of how inspiring they can be and how they challenge me to constantly evolve and better myself.

Mike is no exception. What keeps drawing me to Mike’s photos is his unique brand of subject matter. The dude loves crap weather and I applaud him for going out there, often times with much risk, to capture these breathtaking and awesome displays of nature.

Mike is a headstrong guy with a great sense of humor and I have really enjoyed my conversations with him. I know the two of us will fire off brackets some day (Bob will be there, too), there is no doubt of this. Until then, I will simply awe at the amazing acts of nature that Mike shares with us from a safe distance. :) I’m really happy that Mike is a part of the Alt Perspective series.

You can follow Mike on his Blog, Twitter, and Facebook

Mike Olbinski: Storm Hunter? – Mike Olbinski

I would love to be able to tell you guys an awesome story about Brian, but I only know him through Twitter and unfortunately haven’t had the pleasure of meeting him in person. My jealousy is very obvious whenever I hear about him and Bob Lussier heading out to some abandoned, decrepit and ancient building to take bracket after bracket. I’d love to go urban exploring with those two experts. The Boston and New England areas are some of my favorite places in the world and hopefully I’m able to get back there someday.

However, I can tell you that Brian is one of the very best of the photographers I know. Not his actual photos mind you, I mean, they are AWFUL! (wink) But just as a person, as a human being, he’s been incredibly awesome and helpful to me, a complete stranger he met over Twitter and it takes a special guy to want to help just ANYONE. I feel very honored to be asked to guest blog on his Alt Perspective series.

But seriously, this blog post is supposed to be about ME, so let’s not waste one more second talking about Brian. Rest assured, I have no problem talking about myself!

My love for photography and the weather has always been there, but it was a dream unrealized until last year. My daughter was born and suddenly all I wanted to do was take pictures of her. Then I wanted to get better at it. Then I realized I loved trying to capture lightning on camera and wanted a DSLR. And then I got one and something inside me finally clicked.

I love doing this thing. Photography. Capturing stuff.

I love shooting with my 50mm 1.4. I was in Holland recently and got so sick of the wide angle lens, I vowed to spend my final hours in Bruges and Amsterdam using only the 50. It was exciting and liberating.

That same lens helps me with my passion to do a little portrait photography here and there. My daughter, clients, whoever. It’s something I never thought I’d be doing, but I’ve found out I have a little aptitude for it and it’s a fulfilling part of photography for me. I mean, the smiles, the occasional tears that people get when they see a beautiful photo of their newborn baby or grandchildren…it’s hard to top that.

But there is something else I love. Something that would keep me out shooting at 4 or 5am, even though I have to be at work at 6.

Storm chasing.

Before we get too far into this topic, I do love to photograph a wide variety of things. You can see that in some in the photos included in this blog. I found out while in Bruges that I could shoot old cobblestone streets and alleyways for an eternity. Or hide in the shadows and snap candid photos of people in a big city. Lots of things make me tick…but storm chasing…that’s the ultimate pursuit.

Someone once called me the Storm Hunter on Twitter, which is ridiculous because I live nowhere close to the midwest where the REAL storms take place. I reside in Arizona and have for my entire life. Out here in the summers, we have a monsoon season that creates thunderstorms that can be a lot of fun, but nothing like the supercells of spring in Kansas, Oklahoma and all those middle states.

Yet a storm is a storm to me. Yes, I took a day trip to Nebraska earlier this year for just a CHANCE at some tornado action (never have seen one in person), but hazardous weather is just something I would love anywhere. When I was in Holland a few months ago, I experienced and captured some shots of two intense, impressive storms that blew through the area I was staying.

And, of course, I will be doing a 4-5 day extended storm chasing trip next spring somewhere in the Midwest. I KNOW this will happen and am excited.

But maybe I am a hunter. I do look to see if storms will happen wherever I travel. Most people check that stuff hoping it’s going to be blue skies and sunny weather…I on the other hand pray for some kind of awesome thunderstorm to make the stay a little more fun. So what if I can’t sun on the beach for a few hours? Perhaps I can snatch an amazing photo of sand, surf and lightning!

My goal this summer was to capture the Arizona monsoon from a variety of angles and styles. Just like Brian, I love HDR photography and use that most of the time. But I also love the occasional standard color photo or a beautiful black & white. The plan was to hopefully put together a little photobook and perhaps start something fun to do every summer. We’ll see how it pans out.

So that’s me all laid out for you in a nutshell (a quote from one of my favorite shows ever, Sports Night). I am enjoying trying my hand at a lot of different types of photography…and the portrait stuff has been a growing business that may end up being the thing that takes me somewhere.

But if I were in the middle of a late evening shoot with a couple of cute kids and their parents, and a storm was suddenly brewing a few miles away and the thunder was getting louder…well, I’ll let you guess where I’d rather be at that moment.