Storm chaser loves the hobby

OLDS - At 32 years of age, Brian Constantine shows little sign of giving up his storm-chasing hobby any time soon.

He's simply having too much fun doing it, even though it can be a little scary at times.

The Penhold resident, a member of the storm-chasing group Twisted Chasers, gave a presentation about his hobby at the Olds Municipal Library earlier this fall.

"It's the drama of it. The adrenalin I think factors into it as well," he said during an interview with the Albertan.

"When you're in the presence of a supercell, it leaves such an impression upon you; probably not dissimilar to the adrenalin junkies and the highs they get from bungee jumping or something like that," he added.

"There's just so much power that you feel there, and it provides that kind of adrenalin kick."

Constantine has been actively chasing and photographing storms for about five years, although he has photographs of storms going back to about 2008.

He's not sure why he got into the hobby.

"I know growing up in B.C., we had lots of lightning out there," he said. "It wasn't something I was initially interested in, but it somewhat scared me initially and then I just forced myself to watch it while I was in bed so it wouldn't surprise me."

He said the hobby started out innocuously enough.

At first, all he wanted to do was simply photograph storms.

"I got the camera first, so that came first, but the storms have definitely become kind of the preoccupation now," he said.

Constantine said he hasn't been hurt chasing storms.

But he has certainly been surprised, even scared.

"There have been surprises," he said. "Lightning storms are the scariest ones; particularly at night when you see a flash of lightning and you see the storm structure.

"It's not just a random bolt of lightning or just kind of your mundane lightning storm. When you start to see the defined storm structure, it only shows up when the lightning strikes. That'll put some nerves into you (laughs) or shake you a little bit."

"This year, I was out actually on the supercell shot. Just prior to that, I was in another location. The storm had moved through. It was kind of calming down it looked like and then as I was taking one shot, I could see a bolt of lighting out of the corner of my eye. It was almost instantaneous with the thunder so I knew it was close.

"At that point, I decided to make my way back to the car and shoot from there for the time being while it moved away further."

Constantine and his wife, Hope, have three kids ranging in age from four to eight years old. He's a stay-at-home dad. She is a nurse in Red Deer.

Constantine agreed jokingly that Hope is an appropriate name for his wife, given his hobby.

"Is your wife OK with you going out and doing this? Is she ever scared for you?" he was asked.

"I'm sure she is," Constantine replied.

"I'm sure she would prefer that I take up other hobbies, but overall, I think she's been quite - at least permissive to allow me to go out and storm-chase. I'm not sure she's so keen on doing it herself."

Constantine said normally, his wife doesn't accompany him on his storm-chasing trips. But she did one time.

"We were chasing towards Crossfield, so we were driving for a little bit. I looked over and she was writing something out on a scrap piece of paper that I had in the car," Constantine recalled.

"I wondered what that was so I asked her. It turned out she was writing down a will," he added with a laugh. "So she hasn't accompanied me on too many storm chases."

During his talk, Constantine recalled one storm cell he chased into the Bowden-Olds area.

"So this thing's right on top of me at this point," he said. Fortunately it's not raining. It doesn't look like it has quite the same structure as a supercell, but you can feel the weight of this thing and it feels very oppressive to be right under it and that's why I didn't particularly want to stay (there).

"As it's moving south, I'm trying to get around it. So I quickly snap a picture, get back in the car.

"There really needs to be like, a chase lane through these small towns because it really slows you down with stop signs and traffic signs," he said, prompting laughter from the audience.

Constantine said he hasn't had to get extra or special insurance as a result of his hobby.

It was suggested his vehicle must be pretty dented up from being hit by hail from severe storms.

"At this point, I don't have any different insurance on it," he said. "I've been fortunate to stay out of the hail and the real damaging parts of the storm, so I can't say I've got any damages or dents from storm chasing."

However, "it's definitely something that I'm very aware of," he added with a smile.