Why is it that our society clearly celebrates the chance takers, yet we rarely encourage one another to take chances–especially those people closest to us?
Almost all your favorite artists quit the traditional to pursue their dreams. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates dropped out of college to pursue their passions. Regardless if you wanna be in art, or film, or accounting, or a pro athlete, the story is the same.
Go tell your husband that you’re quitting your well paying job to pursue a career in video and film. Or go tell your parents you’re dropping out of college to pursue photography full time and see what they say.
I’m not saying quit your day job on the spot. But I do find it strange that our culture by-and-large celebrates those people who have taken non-traditional paths to success, but yet it rarely encourages people to take those same paths when success is only a distant dream.
What is wrong with us?
Take that chance. And encourage others in your life to do the same.
I am thinking about that everyday and I am taking already a big chance on my photo and film career though I have a normal day job aswell to keep myself alive and pay for everything that can take me one step closer to my goal, to live on my dream.
I agree with you fully, and as you say: Maybe you don´t have to quit on the spot but plan out and just do it! I will next year take a really big leap into universe by going to China to work on a documentary on my life there for three months as an English teacher and also develop my photo and film knowledge and style and after that I have decided that I will live on photo and film. I say it like it already happened, to confirm that that´s the way it is going to be!
Thanks for your every word that speaks to me and that you inspire in a very unique and honest way.
thanks for this reinforcing my decision Chase! I assisted 2 fine art photographers straight out of college and it scared the s*%t out of me. They were in their 50s, their art sat in museums and with private collectors around the globe, they self-published award-winning photography books, and yet struggled financially month after month. After they couldn’t afford to pay my minimal salary anymore, I decided I wasn’t cut out for that type of ‘instability’ and went the opposite direction. Got my MBA and then did what I ‘thought i was supposed to do’ by working for the man in big corporation after big corporation. i was unhappy miserable and out of place. took me 14 years to truly realize that success does not equal a big paycheck and advancing the ranks in a j.o.b. Left that world last year to return full circle to my passion of photography. i believe that the U.S. societal standards of ‘success’ helped lead me astray, but i hadn’t thought it about it in the way that you pose – we celebrate the things that we are most scared to do. but that leads to the deeper question of ‘what is success’? cheers, kenna
I see your point and I agree though it is easier to romanticize the risk takers when they have already proven their success like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.
Hi Chase,
I know exactly what you mean.
I used to be a very well paid movie editor in Paris, France.
I dropped everything to become a photographer in Vancouver, Canada.
I started a year ago and I shot my first big contract for CBC ( Canadian TV Station ) last month.
Nothing feels better than taking that chance in life.
http://www.briceferre.com is getting bigger and bigger everyday.
I’ve had my first exhibition in Vancouver last month as well.
I think everyone should take that kind of chances, even if it clearly was easier for a guy like me with no kids and no mortgage.
Oh well…
Cheers.
Brice.
I am an architect and left a firm that i was a partner with many years ago to start my own firm. We had no work or clients and it took 5 years to be in a position that we knew it would work and we would be ok. Now I would never work for anyone else. If i screw up in life i want it to be my screwup and not a moron manager who has some other agenda in mind but whose bad decision affects the bottom line for my family. There’s nothing better than to craft your own path and have that feeling of accomplishment.
Now I get to use my photography talents to shoot our firms work (plus the firm buys my equipment). What else could be more fun than that? I’ve had images in the Chicago Tribune and the NY Times along with many other publications and books. Life is a blast.
All I can say is to pursue your dream but do it with every part of yourself and you will suceed.