Photos from Project Vortex 2

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For the past two years, I got the opportunity to tag along with Project Vortex 2, a $12,000,000 National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration funded science mission to gather data on the origins of tornadoes. Being an avid weather nerd, storm chaser, and photographer, getting to document this was a dream come true; with 35 science vehicles and 80 scientists in addition to a good dozen media vehicles tagging along (MSNBC, The Weather Channel, The Discovery Channel, and an IMAX film crew, among others), this was the biggest severe weather research project in history and will likely remain so for a long time to come.

Shooting Vortex 2 was hard, whiteknuckle work. My driving total for both years was just under 30,000 miles traveled; most of it on long hauls to the days' targets, but also more miles than I want to recall driving under the kinds of sky-fists that make a man start thinking back to the legend of Damocles. This is probably the coolest science I've ever seen -- getting paid to chase storms, see tornadoes, and gather data that will be poured over in the coming decade and eventually save lives.

I probably shot nearly 20,000 photos covering Project Vortex 2 -- these are my favorite 25. It was hard to wheedle them down and I have a whole boatload of photos that barely missed the cut. I'll be posting more over the winter to keep the blog busy until next Spring's storm season. Enjoy!

 Ryan McGinnis

Time Lapse and Star Trails

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You don’t need fancy camera gear to capture beautiful images and video of the night sky. The above video shows a timelapse created using 1262 photos captured with a Canon 20D at 30 second exposures and ISO 800. At the end there’s a star trails photo created by combining all the stills into a single image. It’s a great 1.25 minute dose of relaxation and inspiration.

Tension in the Koreas

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November 23rd, North Korea fired scores of artillery shells at the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, killing at least four (two soldiers, two civilians), wounding 18 more, destroying several houses, and setting numerous fires in one of the most serious clashes between the two countries in decades. North Korea claimed it was a response to earlier shells fired by South Korea - which the South acknowledged had been fired, but as an exercise, and not into North Korean territory. 70,000 South Korean troops were beginning an annual nationwide military drill called "Safeguarding the Nation" in the area, near the spot where a South Korean naval vessel was sunk in March, killing 46 sailors - which Seoul also blamed on North Korea. This attack coupled with recent revelations about the North's nuclear capabilities and escalating threats and counter-threats have raised tensions around the region - even as athletes from both Koreas continue to compete on a world stage, against each other and other nations, in the Asian Games in China.

This picture taken on November 23, 2010 by a South Korean tourist shows huge plumes of smoke rising from Yeonpyeong island in the disputed waters of the Yellow Sea on November 23, 2010. North Korea fired dozens of artillery shells onto a South Korean island on November 23, 2010, killing four people, setting homes ablaze and triggering an exchange of fire as the South's military went on top alert. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Smoke billows from multiple locations on Yeonpyeong island near the border between North Korea and South Korea on Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Yonhap) KOREA OUT

A shell fired from North Korea is seen on Yeonpyeong Island November 24, 2010. (REUTERS/Park Jong-Sik/Hankyoreh)

Members of the South Korean Coast Guard evacuate residents from Yeonpyeong island in the disputed waters of the Yellow Sea after North Korea fired dozens of artillery shells the day before, on November 24, 2010. (Korea Coast Guard/AFP/Getty Images)

South Korean survivors arrive as they are surrounded by relatives and media at a port in Incheon, west of Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)

Survivors of the artillery exchange between North and South Korea arrive at Incheon port from Yeonpyeong Island on November 24, 2010 in Incheon, South Korea. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Members of the media interview local residents from Yeonpyeong island as they arrive at the port in Inchon, west of Seoul, on a police vessel on November 24, 2010. (KIM JAE-HWAN/AFP/Getty Images) 

A partially illuminated bridge to nowhere sits in the middle of the the Yalu River, which separates the North Korean border town of Siniuju (opposite bank, in darkness) from Dandong in northeast China's Liaoning province on November 24, 2010 in Dandong. The Yalu River bridge, also known as the no-name bridge, remains standing reaching only halfway across the river after it was bombed by the U.S. in 1950 during the Korean War and eventually dismantled from its own side by North Korea shortly after the Korean War armistice. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)

A North Korean soldier stands guard on the banks of the Yalu River, near the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite the Chinese border city of Dandong on November 23, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer)

A border area of North Korea's west coast, dotted with artillery bunkers and a sign reading "Long live Great leader Kim Il-Sung and his revolutionary ideology!", as seen from South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island in the disputed waters of the Yellow Sea on January 28, 2010. (KIM JAE-HWAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Protesters trample a portrait of North Korea leader Kim Jong Il in front of the Defense Ministry, Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010 in Seoul, South Korea. South Korea's troops were on high alert Wednesday as their government exchanged threats with rival North Korea following a frightening military skirmish that ratcheted tensions on the peninsula to new extremes. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

An elderly South Korean man wipes his tears as a North Korean relative (in the bus) waves to say good-bye after a luncheon during a separated family reunion meeting at the Mount Kumgang resort on the North's southeastern coast, near the border on October 31, 2010. North Korea criticized South Korea on November 24, 2010 for scrapping planned talks on family reunions, and repeated claims that Seoul provoked this week's deadly artillery attack on a South Korean island. (KOREA POOL/AFP/Getty Images)