Copyright Infringements

Well with all of the fresh Stormtrack members flooding in lately, (some of which who I'm sure just took their first skywarn class and probably have seen more tornadoes than Gene Moore) another admitted thief (with a high iq, I assume) shows up and tells people not to freak out, but he kind of stole some shit from you guys! No worries, when he pawned it off for nothing, he gave you credit for it!! Not only that, but he wanted to let you know "thanks" because he's gonna be on THE TV! I'm not sure how he could get in "good" with a station without saying they were his. (Which he swore he never did!) Hey buddy, go buy some cameras, drive to the storm, and document it just like the rest of us!

Recently, I've (we've) had some of our stuff stolen...but that could never compare to the theft of what Mike Hollingshead has had done to him over the years. KSN in Wichita illegally redistributed our Greensburg footage to Brian Schodorf (donated, because that's how they give back to their communities!) for his independent production airing soon. I guess KSN didn't expect us to be already talking to Brian! They also stole Brandon Ivey's footage (which both ours and his were obtained off of a CNN feed, which in our contracts is specific in airing for 10 days only, no redistribution/broadcast only!) from 2006. Brandon told me he sent them an invoice for the footage (which was about 1/4 of what I'm sending them) and they claimed extortion! Oh...right...we're the criminals here and just want what's rightfully ours...so we're now involved in extortion! Storm chasers are involved in some serious organized crime these days! Ron Woods will be getting an invoice soon! So will Sean Wilson, who I guess never really thought it was wrong to use one of my photos to promote his business on his website! Learn to s-w-i-m. I've always been the type of guy who negotiates...you do this for me, I'll do this for you. I'm not going to do something, if there isn't a return. I don't give two shits if my name is in the credits, paper, tv, or layed out in smoke signals. That doesn't get me to the next storm.

If you can't tell by my tone in my writing, I have lived and learned. Selling video or working for the media = a pain. Not to mention the cut-throat business it is. I don't even watch tv!! It just gets in the way of the underlying reason of why I chase. I'll be good to go on funds in a year or two, so I'm happily stepping aside.

Okay, I haven't ranted for awhile...but chasers don't need to get bent over by their own. (Or is he a chaser?...so many on there now who aren't...)

Cynical Dick