Email Ben

I live at Redcliffe, just north of Brisbane.  My interests are computers and IT, playing the guitar and of course severe weather photography, storm chasing and weather in general.

I guess i've always loved the weather. I can remember scanning the western horizon for storms and being glued to the window watching lightning of a night from as young as 5 years old.  After a violent (tornadic) storm struck Redcliffe on christmas eve 1989 (my account of it can be read here) something inside me just clicked, and I knew that i had more than just a casual interest in storms and weather. From that day onwards i could no longer bottle up my fascination or worry about being seen as weird if i showed more than a casual interest in the weather.

Over the years, as each storm season came and went, I was growing more and more anxious to experience more storms, to get my "storm fix" regardless of whether or not the weather gods decided to bless Redcliffe with one. I had heard about these "storm chasers" in the United States and in 1998, with a new internet connection in hand, I started looking for other like minded people in Australia. It wasn't long before I found the online Australian weather community (which then consisted of a handful of people). Low an behold, not only were there other people with the same passion for storms and weather as me, but people were actually "chasing" storms in Australia too! and so it began... I started chasing storms in the 1998-1999 storm season, not really knowing just how big an influence it would become in my life. In the years since I have chased as much as humanly possible, juggling work and other commitments, spending long days on the road and racking up as much as 40 000km's some years (taking up storm chasing is a great way to get to know your mechanic!). It's worth every second of it all!

I also have a keen interest in meteorology - the how's and why's of the spectacular scenes and events that our atmosphere produces and how to preempt them so i can be there for as many of them as possible!

Ben also has a selection of weather photos on this site.

Click on any thumbnail above to see a full size version, or click here to go
to his members gallery and see more of his photos.