JamesCaruso
Staff member
Thanks Dan, but I was just quoting from Cal Newport's book - and I think he may have been quoting someone else!
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Chasing and "following your dreams"
- Thread starter Dan Robinson
- Start date
Thanks Dan, but I was just quoting from Cal Newport's book - and I think he may have been quoting someone else!
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Brandon Molyneaux
Enthusiast
I agree - you can't make storm chasing a job. Can you make money with it? Certainly. But it won't be a steady income and something you can live off of. There are research groups out there (like CSWR) who do spend some seasons chasing. But then again, you're not getting paid to chase - you're getting paid to collect data, make scientific advances, write papers and present the information. I can say I was fortunate enough to chase with Tim Marshall in CSWR's Scout 3 this past summer, and it really gave me a new perspective on chasing, and it's something I want to do for the rest of my life.
Here's how I look at it - there's 3 ways of chasing.
1. Chasing for yourself.
The best part about this is you get to do whatever the heck you want. No contracts, NDA's, etc. holding you back. You can get as close as you want (being safe, of course), or you can stay back and get some structure shots. The only thing holding you back is you. If you feel like sitting out for a day to relax and have a few beers (or steaks), then there's nothing stopping you except you.
2. Chasing for media/your business.
To me, these go hand-in-hand. Chasing for your business/media, I would presume you would need to step out of your comfort zone to get one-of-a-kind shots. You need to get something to separate yourself from all of the other chasers out there to get your media to be "top dog", and sell.
3. Chasing for research
Phones, video cameras, etc have to be put down to focus on the task at hand. I didn't get as much footage/photos as I wanted to get, but one thing that I did get to see was the data the pods collected. Of course, the way that you chase for research is different every time depending upon what you're studying.
For me, I'm most interested in the research that goes into severe weather. If I make money off of my content, awesome! If I don't, then I don't make a big deal out of it. I honestly could care less about that photo or video I took of the wedge everyone was freaking out about. If I have data in my hands, I'm going to make it an immediate priority before even attempting to look through my media and posting it online/send to a broker. Once I graduate (which will be next fall), I hope to get into grad school to study supercell dynamics, tornadogenesis, or severe weather modeling. It's something I've wanted to do since I was a little pip squeak, and I'm going to damn well try my hardest to get into grad school and achieve my dream. I'm taking every opportunity that lands in my lap and working 110% until I die.
Here's my input on this thread: don't give up on your dreams, and don't be a dream killer to someone else. Chase how you want to chase. Live your life the way you want to live it. If you want to try and chase for profit, try and chase for profit. If you want to sit in an office all day and forecast how high the waves in the ocean will be, then by all means go for it. If you want to flip burgers for a living, then flip burgers. As Quincy said, chase every chase to the fullest, because you never know when you'll hit a wall and you'll have to give up chasing.
EDIT: Let me clear up my third sentence: good luck making money in the first place. If you do, don't expect to make much.
Here's how I look at it - there's 3 ways of chasing.
1. Chasing for yourself.
The best part about this is you get to do whatever the heck you want. No contracts, NDA's, etc. holding you back. You can get as close as you want (being safe, of course), or you can stay back and get some structure shots. The only thing holding you back is you. If you feel like sitting out for a day to relax and have a few beers (or steaks), then there's nothing stopping you except you.
2. Chasing for media/your business.
To me, these go hand-in-hand. Chasing for your business/media, I would presume you would need to step out of your comfort zone to get one-of-a-kind shots. You need to get something to separate yourself from all of the other chasers out there to get your media to be "top dog", and sell.
3. Chasing for research
Phones, video cameras, etc have to be put down to focus on the task at hand. I didn't get as much footage/photos as I wanted to get, but one thing that I did get to see was the data the pods collected. Of course, the way that you chase for research is different every time depending upon what you're studying.
For me, I'm most interested in the research that goes into severe weather. If I make money off of my content, awesome! If I don't, then I don't make a big deal out of it. I honestly could care less about that photo or video I took of the wedge everyone was freaking out about. If I have data in my hands, I'm going to make it an immediate priority before even attempting to look through my media and posting it online/send to a broker. Once I graduate (which will be next fall), I hope to get into grad school to study supercell dynamics, tornadogenesis, or severe weather modeling. It's something I've wanted to do since I was a little pip squeak, and I'm going to damn well try my hardest to get into grad school and achieve my dream. I'm taking every opportunity that lands in my lap and working 110% until I die.
Here's my input on this thread: don't give up on your dreams, and don't be a dream killer to someone else. Chase how you want to chase. Live your life the way you want to live it. If you want to try and chase for profit, try and chase for profit. If you want to sit in an office all day and forecast how high the waves in the ocean will be, then by all means go for it. If you want to flip burgers for a living, then flip burgers. As Quincy said, chase every chase to the fullest, because you never know when you'll hit a wall and you'll have to give up chasing.
EDIT: Let me clear up my third sentence: good luck making money in the first place. If you do, don't expect to make much.
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