17 August 2011

Fakes in chasing

In every profession, hobby, or anything for that matter.... there will be your fakes or posers. It seems so prevalent in the chasing community though. Whether it is a desire to "be there" or just a disease with the craving of some sort of spotlight 24/7. Everyone boosts their resumes in some way or another.... maybe tack on an iffy tornado here, tack on an extra .5in to a hail stone there. Everyone has done it at one point in time; maybe a little bit of over embellishing.  The act is not to deceive as it is to stretch that extra inch to the goal line so to speak. Anyone who claims to be 100% totally accurate has committed a great fallacy. I am not 100% accurate, I try to be, but in the end I chase for me and my personal bond with Mother Nature... NOT to pad stats or claim the irreclaimable.

When people who want to "be there" or hop in the limelight arise, the reaction is usually knee-jerk and unfriendly. Especially those who don't want to put forth the work or effort in becoming a successful chaser or forecaster. Nothing annoys me more than people that have things handed to them without putting the work forward. As a chaser I would much rather fail at forecasting and sit on the side of the road under blue skies than know I piggybacked off someone else. If you leech a chaser into success, that is bad. If you don't chase and then steal others pictures and work and claim it as your own, then all hell is going to break loose.

While my work has only been stolen once, I don't make a living or livelihood off my footage or stills. Some may then question my involvement in if I have no dogs in the race. To that I say I will ALWAYS have my friends and fellow chasers backs. With as much bickering and pettiness that is prevalent in the chaser community, when it comes down to it we are always there for one another. If I find a page where someones work is being falsely represented you best believe I will be there fighting for your rights and your name.

Bottom line... if you want to chase... chase. If you want to forecast... forecast. But please don't piss on my back and tell me it is raining.

4 comments:

  1. And chasers always learn from other chasers on a daily basis, not everyone knows everything, it is always a continuous learning environment.

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  2. How do you ever learn by just following? There are more lazy noobs running around with aircards than noobs who truly want to learn how to do it the right way for themselves (there are SOME out there). SIGH....more members of the entitlement population I guess.

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  3. It really is a shame that chasing is now as user friendly as just about anything. Look at the SPC, look at where the "pros" are going, and follow the green dot road.

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