by Tom Gallagher
eFinancial Careers has a story of a former Wall Street trader, Chris Arnade, who quit his job to pursue his passion of photography. The result? A photo documentary of the lives of people dealing with addiction. It's a compelling read.
When Chris Arnade quit his job at Citigroup last July to pursue his passion of photography full-time, he had 20 years' experience and was working in one of the best paid roles on Wall Street -- prop trading. Without those many years of lucrative pay, he never could have done it. That and an attitude toward money that's more parsimonious than that of many working in finance.
"I'm living off my savings, but I've never really spent a lot of money relative to my income," said Arnade in an interview. "I drive a car with 150,000 miles on the clock, I don't wear a watch and I've never felt the need to go to a restaurant where eating becomes a work of art."
In July last year, Arnade left Citigroup to start his photography project 'Faces of Addiction' in the impoverished Hunts Point area of New York. His series features intimate, and occasionally disturbing, images of people dealing with homelessness, drug use and prostitution, and combines them with their personal stories. These can be harrowing and highlight the struggle of life in the slums, but Arnade's subjects also provide touching insights of resilience and positivity.
