How big is your rat?
Sunday, November 11, 2007 at 11:27PM I like to look back at my photographic journey every now and then, and why I am where I am today. I mean, I left a successful career in the software consulting industry, so why would I give up a steady job with a decent paycheck every 2 weeks? The question has many different answers for me, but the late Galen Rowell had a way of explaining why some climbers were better than others. It is all about the rat that lives inside of you.
"The phrase was coined by working class British climbers to account why some of them become so much more successful than others. The public believes that climbers who scale remote mountains, like published photographers must have greater inate talent and skill than their lesser companions, but this is not the case. The rat refers to the voracious creature gnawing at a person's stomach from the inside that drives him or her to repeatedly leave the comforts and security of civilized life to challenge him or herself in the natural world. Without a big rat, a person stays at home with the family and is content to be a shopkeeper."
-an exerpt from The Inner Game of Outdoor Photography by Galen Rowell
I realized that I had many different rats that lived inside of me. I knew that I had a desire for adventure in my life, and that I would go to my grave having regrets if this adventure rat wasn't fed. I had an inner voice that kept telling me that my life could be so much more than what it was at the time. I started my photographic safari business when I still had a full time job. I was working for a UK-based software company, and as a result I did have more vacation time than the average working American. I used this time off to my advantage, and in the beginning I spent all of my vacation time of 4 weeks in Africa each year. So I decided to lead 2 safaris each year, and this worked out very well for a few years. But the rat was getting bigger inside, and it needed to be fed. Fast forward a few years, and Leslie and I were expecting the birth of our baby boy. My travel schedule was extremely hectic, and I knew that this would be disruptive as a parent. Leslie would be disappointed with my travel schedule, and there had to be a better way to live my life.
It was at the 6-month pregnancy point when we (yes, we) decided that I would turn my photographic safari and workshop business into a full time (more than full time!) job. Well, I haven't looked back. But again the rat keeps eating away for more. So now this leads to the starting of a niche photographic product, which I will begin marketing and selling in early 2008. With one challenge under my belt, I am starting another one. The move from full time employee to self employed was a huge leap of faith, and I am a better person because of it. I am by nature a very risk averse person. However, there is a difference between calculated risk and being reckless. I like to think that my situation has all been about the former.
So I have to ask, what is *your* rat?
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