Hannah McKay

I cover general, political and business news, as well as sports and feature stories.

I was given an Olympus OZ-10 for my eighth birthday. I couldn’t get anyone in my family to pose for a picture, so I used the entire roll of film taking pictures of myself on a self-timer.

I wanted to make a difference to people’s lives, and I wasn’t clever enough to become a doctor.

I was working for the local paper in my hometown. In the middle of winter, there was a big fire at a factory and I was sent to cover it. I couldn’t see where I was walking, I lost a shoe in the process, but I managed to get really close to the fire, which made really dramatic pictures. I got my first front page of the paper the next day, but I never did retrieve my shoe.

The assignment that has left the biggest mark on me was my first foreign assignment for Reuters, three months into the job.

I was sent to Bangladesh to cover the Rohingya Refugee crisis, having never stepped foot in Asia or previously had the opportunity to cover a humanitarian crisis before. It was an experience that will live with me forever. I still think about the sights, the sounds and the smells, the people I met and the situations I photographed. Working in Asia put colour in my eyes.

Breaking news is the most exciting type of job to cover. You never know where you’re going to end up, what you’re going to be faced with and the adrenaline running through your body is a good feeling.

Take every opportunity you’re given and treat it like it’s your last, work hard and If you really want it, you will make it happen.

“You’re only as good as the last picture you took”, an old boss once said to me. I remind myself of that on a regular basis.

Pictures don’t lie, it is important for the world to see what is going on from an unbiased perspective.