It was great to see so many happy faces yesterday while covering A-level results at QE Sixth Form College in Darlington. Plenty of young people achieving the grades they needed in order to progress to the next stage of their educational development. That said, good exam results is not the be all and end all.
During my teenage years, I struggled to concentrate on my studies and in particular revision. I found there were too many distractions as curiosity fed my interest in the popular culture of the day, girls and various forms of intoxication. In other words: sex, drugs and rock and roll...!
Fortunately, I scraped through my exams and spent three happy years at university in Liverpool studying sociology and psychology. I still had no idea what profession or career I wanted to pursue, however. That didn't dawn on me until my mid-twenties when the idea of photo journalism came to me almost as a vision. Prompted by my sister already working in the industry as a reporter, and an interest in photography that developed from using my dad's camera as a kid on family holidays, I somehow knew this was the job for me.
Everyone is different and no two career paths are the same. I feel very fortunate to be doing a job I love even after 20 years of service. Likewise I don't regret my time at university where aside from studies, I made some good friends and developed invaluable life skills. Retrospectively I may have made different decisions, and I question whether a degree has made any difference to my working life. In my opinion, innate traits such as enthusiasm, passion and dedication go much further in the pathway to success.
#resultsday #alevels #alevelresultsday #qecollege #darlington #canon #photography @CanonUKandIE @CanonUSA @QESFC
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