Telling people that I study photography is often something of a taboo topic, something that I sometimes do not want to mention to people when they ask me because I’ve had such mixed responses when excitedly talking to people about my course. Everyone around me when I was growing up; my family members, my friends and even my teachers from school were all pessimistic about my interest in photography and how much I wanted to carry it on in the future. Just because I’m not as academic as other’s that I grew up with, I felt as though I got judged because I was going into further study with photography and felt as though I could and would make a career out of it.

Moving from my secondary school to a Grammar School which was highly academic and known for its sciences and outstanding academic grades had me doubting myself and my abilities to keep up with my peers. Why was I going somewhere that was going to judge me for choosing to study art subjects, choosing to continue with something that I absolutely loved? Because that is what it felt like to me, at the time and even now when telling people about what I study at University, I just know that people feel strongly about my life and my future career path.

I guess I would get through this doubt by telling myself that we’re all individuals and everyone’s on different journeys and pathways, no one was ahead of any one and just because my friends were doing academic subjects didn’t mean that they were guaranteed a job, just like I’m not either. I think this is why I felt Jocelyn’s tweet hit home so much as soon as I saw it. It was so good to see someone from the industry being so truthful and honest about their job and lifestyle. The tweets below are Jocelyn discussing her journey in photography and the approach that people have to people within the photography industry.