Senior’s Photo Garners International Recognition

by Todd Fuqua

It was a windy and dark day on May 16, 2021, near Earth,Texas, the kind of day that could fill the sky with spectacularthunderheads bursting with color.

ENMU senior and Greyhound basketball team member LauraRowe (attending) took the opportunity to snap a photo of oneof those thunderheads as it was lit up by the setting sun, and ithas earned her internet fame the world over.

Laura Rowe

“This photo was what I like to call a ‘Godincidence’,” Rowe remembers. “My boyfriend and I saw a tornado form and touch down. We chased it for a few hours down some backroads before I took the photo.”

Rowe has since won recognition from the Extreme Weather Congress in Hamburg, Germany, for Picture of the Year for 2021.

“It is so strange to scroll on social media and see a photo that I took pop up every once in a while, or to be tagged in a post by an account that has millions of followers.”

Anyone interested in purchasing prints of the famous photo can visit laurarowe.smugmug.com.

“I still get so excited when a new order comes through or I get an email from someone wanting a signed print,” Rowe said. “It has completely changed what I may want to do in the future.”