So, the government wants me to retrain.  My life as an event and portrait photographer is by their standards "not viable."

Well, here's the thing. I already have retrained. I left university as a computer programmer and went to work in banking. However the world suffered a financial crisis, many banks closed and others cut themselves to the bone. After four redundancies I saw the writing on the wall and leapt into full time photography. I worked hard, trained myself in all the skills I needed, bought equipment without a loan and never fell into debt. I paid my tax and work long hard hours to do so.

I'm 49 and have worked for myself for six or so years. I'm not sure how employable I am in what will doubtless be a glutted market. I don't need telling to do something so I am adding new creative strings to my bow, determined to survive. I have evolved my business,  Gander Photography into Gander Media Solutions and now consult with small businesses to create and deliver short video animations for use on social media, websites and in presentations. It's something that I can do at an arm's length, uses my existing skills and still allows me to be creative.

However the photography business I built over six or so years with many personal sacrifices across all of my family is sadly no longer viable, according to the government.

Well ask the hundreds of families who have their precious event memories on their walls, not just now but forever and for all the generations to come.

Ask the hundreds of families I have taken portraits for as they have grown or shrunk. I've taken photos with five generations in them.

Ask the pregnant women whose once in a life time experience I've captured

How about the people whose ageing relatives I have taken precious images of,  that it turns out were the last great photo taken.

Maybe ask the women who  were scared of the camera and thought little of themselves, until they met me. They are now proud to be the way they are and five of them have, as a result, had their self esteem transformed and are now signed up models. One woman admitted to me that in part without the "photographic therapy" as she calls it, along with other treatment, she might even have taken her life. In her own words "the photos we took and the fun we had taking them reminded me it was OK to exist and take up space."

I've even had photographs that have been made into tattoos.

Life in the entertainment, event, hospitality industry is long and hard but wonderfully enriching and rewarding. I've made many many friends. I've been exposed to other people's cultures, I've shared laughter and tears, met famous people. Over ten years nearly half a million pictures have created more lasting value than I ever did in IT or banking. 

Tell me how non viable I or any of the people I cherish in the function family are and I'll tell you otherwise ...