This one became 2 miles wide at one point ~ and as you can see the guy taking its picture was inside shadow of the rotating cloud above. It was coming down around him.
All the carping about his behavior amazes me. I’d imagine I wouldn’t have been the finest exemplar of cinematography technique in the world at that precise moment, either. The urge to flee would be powerful. Is driving in circles any less rational than staying in that parking lot, watching that thing roaring closer?
I would have to just stand there and look at the beast in awe. As crazy as that sounds. How many times do you get to see nature in action like that? I mean, just WOW! If I was shooting something like that, I would have two cameras on a single mount. One for a constant wide field shot and the other to zoom. You would’t want to miss THAT show.