Laura at the May 8, 2009 Vortex 2 Media Day event at the NWC in Norman, OK posing with the new DOW 6 truck
Contact Laura Duchesne
For comments and inquiries, please do not hestitate to email me at laurawx AT laurawx DOT com (this is to prevent spam)
If you would like to use my images on your website, etc. for non-profit spotter training, storm research or educational purposes, please shoot me an email and I will most likely help you out. However if you're seeking to use my images on your site for no purpose other than an online gallery, I will turn down your request because I would prefer people view my images on my website... it's the reason why I even own a domain, which is hosted by fellow chaser David Drummond's Dryline Hosting. Getting these images is actually quite costly... the cost of the camera equipment, the cost to get to the target and effort to see something worth taking pictures of. Also, I have never sold any of my work to anyone before, but if you really really want a print, perhaps we can work something out.
About Laura Duchesne
Hello and welcome to my website. I am based out of Waterloo, Ontario, which is located between London and Toronto. I've been interested in storms
my whole life. My mother has told me that when I was just 6 years old,
I drew pictures of tornadoes, During elementary school, I would go to the library to read tornado books. I used to have a fear in tornadoes and I recall packing my knapsack with my favorite things during a tornado watch one time. After doing a lot of research on storm chasing for a couple years, on March 28, 1998, I started storm chasing with my Uncle Dave Szozda and my younger sister Rita. The first storm chasers I met in person were Arjen and Jerrine Verkaik in 1997. They are part of my inspiration for weather photography. I have been on numerous chases around southern Ontario with my uncle and sometimes my fellow chaser friends. So far, I have been unable to drive because I am legally blind in my right eye due to a condition I was born with, so I help out on the chase in other areas such as gas costs, navigating, reading the sky and photographing. In 2006, I finally had the opportunity to head down to the real tornado alley thanks to my good friend Ron Gravelle. I've been going down with him since then for about two weeks each year. Chasing aside, I am also a spotter for the Canwarn program which is Canada's version of Skywarn, but I prefer to report from somewhere other than home, if you know what I mean. Having that said, I hope you enjoy your visit to my little corner on the Internet.
Below is a list of chase gear I may bring with me on chases, in case you are curious in what I use.
EOS Canon Digital Rebel T1i with a Tamron A14E AF 18-200 mm F/3.5-6.3 lens
Panasonic PV-GS250 Digital Palmcorder MultiCam camcorder
Circular polarizing filters for the cameras to cut through the haze
Sony Vaio laptop installed with mobile internet, GRLevel3 and MS Streets & Trips GPS
Kestrel 4000 Pocket Weather Tracker
Manfrotto 190XProB Tripod with 804RC2 Head Kit
Cell phone
A road map book
A couple pens
A couple of water bottles to stay hydrated
Notebook or note pad
Polarizing sunglasses to cut through the haze
Oregon Scientific NOAA All Hazards Weather Radio
"Want some ice with that?"
Laura on May 19, 2010 near Leedey, Oklahoma holding golfball sized hailstones
