Goodbye Forever to the World of Information Technology

I woke up this morning with a list of things to do this weekend.

1) Get 40 photos ready to send to Ducks Unlimited Magazine

2) Put together 24 of my best wide-aspect scenic nature shots for use in a new product line at the Gallery.

3) Enter the DU Photo Contest

4) Enter the National Geographic photo contest.

5) Talk to Brett about the Wildlife refuge fundraiser where I will be one of the exhibiting photographers at a major fund-raising event this Fall.


It's finally starting to fall together. I have opportunity knocking loudly at my door. And I'm opening it. All the way.

I'm bidding my old life farewell forever. I spent 30 years in IT. And the last job I had in that field was what convinced me more than anything to pursue a career as a wildlife and nature photographer.

I was told by Site Lead at my former job (who also loved photography), that there was no way to ever make a living doing it.

He was a spineless, conniving little shit, by the way. Combined with the boss I had, who was a raving, narcissistic abusive lunatic, it was not the most fun you can have at work.

And he looked down at me. Turned his nose up. Laughed about things like me being so invested in nature and photography.

He works a shit job, for good money. A job that I would never want. But he does it to make ends meet, drive his nice Lexus SUV, and own his Condo near the beach.

I guess what I want to say, if I could...and this is allowing me to vent some of my feelings, due to how I was treated...

Phil, fuck you. You looked at me as if I was in some ways pathetic. You turned your nose up. You and Remi thought that you were so very talented. So wonderful.

You laughed when I talked about wanting to do photography for the rest of my life, and said with a hearty chuckle "good luck with that".

Well, I don't need luck.

I have all the skill and passion and love to make it work, and I am on the verge of doing just that.

So, you and Michael and Remi and Bernie can sit and talk about what you are going to do about the latest issue with a tape silo, or a disk array, or the temperature of the data center.

Good luck with that. Has to be a rewarding career for you.

Meanwhile, I will be showing my works at a fabulous gallery. Working with talented people who love what they do. Working perhaps for a national magazine as a regular contributor.

And making that life as a photographer that you could only put in your pocket as some long forgotten brief flirting you had with the idea.

And I will make it a reality.

Because, Phil...

I am better than you. Far better. Far more talented. And I love what I do. And I'm willing to put in 12 hours in a refuge with my cameras.

Something you have no concept of.

But I will never put 12 hours in at an office. Or a datacenter.

Been there, done that, got the blood stained T-shirt. (from the beatings I took from management over the years).

So, farewell computers, information technology, datacenters and supercomputing.

I won't miss you. At all.

I left you in the dust. The same dust that you tried to grind me into over the years at times. In a thankless profession where backstabbing and political bullshit trumps ability.

Now it's just me and my cameras. And the birds. And nature.

And it's where I belong.

So, for all of those in my last 30 years who made my life hell. Who stabbed me in the back. Who kept me down. Those new employers who looked at me with all of my tremendous experience and said "No degree" or "Too old", I have this to say.

See you in my rear-view mirror.

Getting smaller by the minute.