Growing up in Cork, Ireland, Niamh Barry had never seen a tornado. She knew about them, of course, from science books and movies, but that quirk of nature never presents itself in her country.
Then last year, when she saw the popular “Twisters” film, she got an idea. A photographer by trade, the 27-year-old graduate of Trinity College Dublin decided to visit the U.S. during peak tornado season, April to mid-June, to join a storm-chasing group like the ones she had seen in the movie.
Originally, the trip was to gather wild images of nature. But the more she thought about it, the more she asked herself: Why not produce a full-up documentary, too? It would stretch her artistically and help amortize travel costs if she could sell the film upon completion.
As Barry researched the dozens of storm chaser groups in the U.S., she came upon one, Tornado Titans run by Raychel Sanner, that looked particularly interesting. Sanner was not only a respected chaser with hundreds of twisters under her belt, but had an interesting human-interest angle, too: She was transgender, a topic near and dear to Barry’s heart.
Sanner immediately agreed to take Barry chasing if she came to America in late April. Barry brought along an assistant, Tara Murphy, a 22-year-old friend who specializes in the audio aspects of film. The two met Sanner in Dallas, Texas, and planned to stay in the U.S. for a few weeks.
As luck would have it, the very first chase day turned out to be their best. The threesome saw a promising funnel cone in New Mexico, but it didn’t drop to the surface and become a tornado. Still, the rapidly-changing air temperatures, winds and strange cloud formations intrigued Barry more than she originally had thought they would. “Literally took my breath away,” she says.
During non-chase days, Barry interviewed Sanner on camera to learn more about her as a person. She discovered it had been difficult for Sanner to “come out” as a former star male athlete. When Sanner finally did, she faced the harsh realities of social prejudices that many other transgenders do, especially where she lives in the southwestern U.S. And, to that end, Sanner has more than succeeded in overcoming those prejudices, a point Barry’s documentary drives home.
For the remaining chase days, the group scoured Tornado Alley, traversing a number states. Unfortunately, as is often the case in chasing, it’s hit or miss, with some of the highest-probability days turning into busts, as theirs did. Ironically, on the day Barry and Murphy left to return to Ireland, May 18, Sanner found a photogenic twister in Oklahoma.
Since Barry’s been back home in Dublin, she’s busy cobbling together a 17-minute documentary called, “Something In The Air,” which she plans to submit to film festivals, starting with the Cork International. At the end of this year, she hopes to approach the bigger U.S. festivals, including Sundance and South By Southwest (SXSW).
So far, Barry estimates she’s put about $14,000 into her project – part from grants and part from her own pocket. If the documentary is a success, she hopes to return to the U.S. next year to chase more storms (“I want to see a TORNADO!”) and to amass more footage to possibly expand her Sanner documentary into a feature.
At the end of this month, a showing of nine photos from Barry’s chasing experiences will open at the Photo Museum Ireland. She says the exhibition, on display into October, should help raise awareness of and interest in her documentary.
Barry also emphasizes she’s not in it for the money, but more for the passion of chasing and in presenting a portrait of successful transgenders to the public. She does admit though, laughing, that eventually she would like to at least break even.