Ah, the life of a photojournalist...

One hour to the next, you'll never know what the day will bring. From ghost hunters to the unveiling of a brand new sikh temple (pic), you see it all.

Your diary can change in an instant. You'll have it all worked out, the route, the appointments, the plan for the day, and then in a moment, a fire at county hall, and the whole schedule is forgotten.

Great!

No, really, who wants to plan their days weeks in advance? Where's the romance and adventure in that?

Of course, just because your diary is ruled by your day is no excuse for not keeping one, quite the opposite in fact. Because events can change at any moment, it is all the more imperative to keep track of what you need to do and what you can't reschedule. Without it, it is almost impossible to prioritise.

But that's only half the story...

See, just turning up when events unfold will only take you so far. Once you're there, what you need to do is capture the mood of what's in front of you. It's no good treating a fatal road accident the same way you do a 115th birthday party.

The trick is to communicate the essence of the story to the readers, and to do this you have to both understand the story and have consideration for the angle the journalist will approach it from

And that's the hard part.

Often, especially with breaking stories, you will not even have spoken to the journalist. You will have to assess the scene as soon as you arrive, cover a variety of angles and return to the office for a hero's welcome... hopefully.