"Soon we’ll all be amateur photographers with real money making jobs on the side that we don’t tell our colleagues about. We need to get over the snobbery attached to that".
So writes Simon Norfolk here

"Peter never wanted his photography to become commercial and continued working in local pharmacies until he died. In this role, he was also a frequent adviser to drug users, always kind, but firm. He had several projects on the go at the time of his death. One was to photograph snack vans in laybys around his home in Somerset. Another was to photograph all the packaging that his many bits of computer equipment turned up in. He kept every box and wanted to exhibit them under the title The Bonfire of the Vanities". More here

It seems like only yesterday that whilst in my final year at college we had the chance to apply for teacher training certificate, only 4 of us went to that meeting but from where I was looking the alternative appeared to be ‘work to order’ this did not appeal to me at all, and whilst I was training to be a teacher I realised that the autonomy you have is fantastic, I love researching so much that teaching itself is relatively simple, controlling the students less so.
I heard on the grape vine that many of those who had sneered at me had followed me into teaching a few years later.
I have often wondered if it was the right decision, it has facilitated my need to have children as well as provide me with a home an occasional holiday and plenty to clothe my back.
I am staring 50 in the face and I am finally coming to terms that I did the right thing. I do not need the validation of others (although a place to exhibit would be good) neither is it now important to sell anything. First and foremost I must please myself and apart from the pesky school kids getting in the way! I am starting to make some progress.