photography by Kelly DeLay
In Texas storms are a part of daily life—an exciting and potentially dangerous part, but ever-present nonetheless. And for Kelly DeLay, it’s a way to make a living. As a storm chaser and award winning weather photographer, DeLay finds himself as close as anyone can get to some of the gnarliest storms the country has to offer—well, as close as one can get and still survive to tell the tale. His interest in weather (particularly lightning) and photography developed early in life, and though adulthood has seen DeLay wear many hats—touring sound engineer, band road manager, audio-video producer for digital media industry—his sustained fascination with weather came full circle some years back as he now holds the job title of storm chaser and weather photographer.
To learn more about how one becomes such a thing, his favorite shots and those most dangerous to get, we recently called DeLay up for a quick Q&A. Read on below.
You wake up one day and decide you're chasing storms? How does that happen?
I have always loved weather. Being from South Texas, I was exposed to it a lot. In 7th grade, I built a camera to capture lightning—a simple pin-hole camera made out of cardboard sealed with black gaffe tape, bolts and wing nuts for loading/advancing 35mm film—and began “chasing” storms around, though never serious, just when the occasion arrived from living in Texas or when I was on the road.
