In June we met up with Kate and Ryan for their fabulous Bride + Groom session and we experienced an inadvertent twirl with a tornado. Really.

I say inadvertent because for obvious reasons we weren’t planning on shooting in a major storm – it was heading North and we were heading South (give or take.) Outside Brock, Texas we were planning on capturing a scene with horses. Yep, Kate wanted horses. And we met up at the studio, eyes on the sky, all nonchalant and hopped into the getaway car off to Brock. On the way there we’re being goofy (ok maybe just me and Kate) and catching up, gossiping and such. Ryan vaguely mentions “gee that storm sure looks like it’s getting closer…” we get there and we find a spot we want to shoot and really look at the storm. Wow, he’s right. It looks like it’s just on us. Oh well, let’s hope out and take some pictures in front of that bad boy!

Brandon didn’t have a chance to get out. Kate and Ryan and I ran out and Ryan was all, “ok. really. I think we have 5 – 10 minutes tops before this hits” and he was totally right. We barely had time to take some pictures and then this gust of wind hit us and we screamed (the girls) and ran back into the car. Correction, we borrowed my mom’s van for the shoot. HA HA

It was crazy. The wind was wild. The van was a rocking, and we were just driving up and down on some country road like the crazy people we are. We really didn’t think there would be a tornado. Meanwhile my mom calls on our cell to inform me that “yes, the storm did change direction.” and the really bad stuff was heading our way. Nice. We drive back by the spot we were just at. A tree has fallen in the spot we were parked. Yeah.

After a few minutes we figure we’ll drive back into town in Brock. When we get there we notice all the damage. A giant oak tree was uprooted completely, a giant billboard was bent parallel with the ground, roofs were twisted and on the ground, power lines were on the roads. The guys were particularly excited. It was still raining like mad and lightening, so we just drove around poking the camera out the window to take pictures. They never said it was an actual confirmed tornado, only possible.  But people said it sure sounded like one.

Finally the rain lifted a bit so we got out and resumed the session. While Brock residents were driving home and looking at the damage, we were these silly people out in the drizzle taking pictures of a bride and groom. We had a lot of people staring at us. It was much fun. We decided to go back to our original location and the light… the light was amazing. So that’s our story about us and the tornado that hit oh, about 2 miles away from us. Kate and Ryan, you rock!!