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September 2009 issue of the photo club. This month's theme is 'Work'. Copyright Tom Hancock & Becan Rickard-Elliott 2009. Please view fullscreen.
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t h e p h o t o c l u b
s e p t e m b e r 0 9
i s s u e 0 5
Having been employed in a comfortable desk job straight from Univer-sity, I was confident and full of beans. All I have left from that appar-ently redundant job is unmet expectations and a pride which prevents me from claiming back a small amount of my sizeable tax contributions. I am stubborn and apparently a snob, accusing my fellow unemployed brethren of being ‘lowest common denominator’. How dare I?
People do and say rash things when desperate. I don’t want to be one of the men in the line for handouts. I also don’t want to have to ask friends and family for help – another of our government’s suggested routes to rejoining the workforce. I need a job. I need work. I need a purpose that I deem worthy. What happens when there aren’t any more worthy jobs going though? When all that is left is for greedy ex-bankers to reinvest their £64.30 in risky stocks to make ends meet?
It is time It is time for people like myself to put pride away and start working to earn a living. If that’s not possible, for now at least, there’s always Job Seeker’s Allowance.
The subject of pyramids had caught the attention of these children and they spent hours building and rebuilding until they felt their 'work' was done. I returned a week later to see that it was still being worked upon and still providing pleasure to the children. They were unaware of all the skills they were learning as they played.
If only all work could feel like play.
Whatever you do, please refrain from disturbing the ballplayers by asking for their autographs. As you can see, they are very busy. At least they get paid well to remain 'busy'.
(Fenway Park, Boston MA 2009).
This is Canon UK's headquarters in Reigate, where I work with these beautiful gardens at my disposal (as well as access to great cameras!).
Gambling is illegal. Especially on a small scale like this when you know the odds are tipped. As if appearing from nowhere a police officer leaped over the makeshift card table and grabbed our croupier. The officer was polite and explained the man’s rights with assertiveness. The handcuffs clicked into place and the crowd inched away sheepishly. All in a days work.
For the Baby Boomer generation, their true calling seemed less important than scrambling to earn more money to achieve a better standard of living. For their children today, there seems to be less of a desire to work 60 hours a week to achieve a ‘better life’. Having seen their parents slog away at work with little time for themselves, they want more time to enjoy life and not just retirement. This may be why we are increasingly seeing the phrase ‘work life balance’ being usedused. With this desire to live life as well as work, why is ‘so what do you do?’ still so important? One reason might be that with more time to enjoy life outside of work, we spend more time thinking about the work we would like to do. Finding out about what others do for a living is a way we can discover more about the work we might aspire to. Another reason may simply be the incredible thirst we have to find out about other people’s lives, whether it’s for sheer curiosity or to compare social standinto compare social standing. I wish I had more answers than questions. As for asking others ‘so what do you do?’ I firmly believe our work shouldn’t be the only definition of who we are, despite it being such a big part of our lives. Writing this has made me realise I should strive to ask it less or at least not make it the conversation opener. That said, I also realise how it isn’t simply a conversation opener, there is more behind the question than we think. Whatever we do for work and however we acachieve our true calling, my challenge is simple: the next time you meet somebody for the first time, instead of asking, ‘so what do you do?’ ask them if they ‘live to work, or work to live?’ and why?
