The reality is my fascination and love for press photography, and even The Examiner, started much further back.

I remember being 11 years old waiting to get autographs from visiting AFL players Wayne Carey, Glenn Archer and Mick Martyn as a The Examiner reporter and photographer casually went and started chatting to them.

That looked like a pretty good job to have and I wouldn't have to wait to get my autographs.

My high school job at KFC allowed me to buy a Pantax MZ-60 SLR and begin annoying my family and friends by taking it everywhere.

As soon as I turned 18 that camera became my ticket to the life I dreamed.

This skinny, once mohawk touting, black T-shirt wearing, guitar slinging teenager obsessed with music started shooting every concert I could get a door spot for.

From Steve Earle to Elvis Costello to Powderfinger; any gig was fair game.

When Silverchair headlined Launceston's MS Fest in March 2007, I'd started collating a pretty solid folio of work ready to pitch to editors.

In the dark of the photo pit at the front of the stage I got chatting to then The Examiner photographer Geoff Robson, telling him, with a mix of arrogance and ignorance, that I should be working for the paper.

Fast forward a year to MS Fest 2008 and a lot had changed.

I was a few months into my casual gig when I got the opportunity to cover the festival and land my first front page photo.

In a classic rock and roll move, Kisschasy's Sean Thomas played the guitar with his teeth and I lined up the crowd in the background

I think that was the moment I knew I'd made the right decision to chase my dream.

My teenage bedroom was covered in images of rock and roll legends and rarely has a band made it to Tasmania without me putting my hand up to shoot their concert.

From Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters screaming out the chorus to The Pretender during their 2015 Hobart concert to Robert Plant sharing my image on his website after a smashing set in 2013 there's been more memorable sets than I can even count.

The eternal 16 year old inside me has truly lived their best life.

As well as snapping away, I jumped at the opportunity to interview musicians and turn my hand to writing, with Neil Finn, Courtney Love, and Paul Kelly among those who I talked to over the years.

Kelly even signed my copy of his autobiography with the line "keep writing" after reading the article we published in X-Static.

The emotion on coach Zane Littlejohn's face at the final as the siren rang out at the end of the 2015 TSL grand final really said it all.

There's nothing more enjoyable than seeing your team win a grand final, and as a childhood North Launceston fan there was nothing sweeter than that away from home win against Glenorchy in 2015.

Media is meant to remain neutral, but as the voice of Northern Tasmania, you become passionate for all of the local sides.

Watching the Tornadoes beat the Chargers in Hobart during the SEABL finals, being amongst the players after South Launceston won the 2013 flag - their final TSL game, and feeling the tension as the Cavaliers and Hawks battled it out for the state league netball title last year are a few picks from a long list of favourite experiences.

Our international sporting stars have also been responsible for some of my favourite images over the years.

Daniel Geale landing a left handed blow to Eromosele Albert at the DEC stands out.

Little did the world know but Geale, the defending IBF World Middleweight champion, had been nursing a sore right hand before the bout, and this image showed off the power of his left that won him the fight that night.

The underwater shot of Jake Birtwhistle training last year at the Riverside swimming pool was the result of getting to know Jake as he rose up through the ranks.

His 2015 debut professional win at the Devonport Triathlon is another one of those days I'll never forget, the nervousness of knowing that he was well in the mix during the run leg, before seeing him run down the chute celebrating all the way to the finish line.

June 7, 2016, started with a phone call from a mainland news service at 5.30am asking if I was on shift yet.

The flooding that hit our region was making national news before most of us were awake.

By 7am, I was at Evandale where tragically a delivery driver lost his life and a search was underway. My day wasn't over until almost 10pm as the flood barriers were installed on the Charles Street Bridge.

Politics seems dull to many, but once your life intersects regularly with politicians you begin to see their human side.

The 2009 mayoral race between Rosemary Armitage and incumbent mayor Albert van Zetten saw van Zetten win by three votes after four counts, with me rushing to his home late at night to get a front page photo before our deadline.

Will Hodgman looking to the sky during his 2018 election victory speech, sky honouring his friend and former Tasmanian Attorney-General Vanessa Goodwin who passed away earlier in the day was a poignant moment in what can be a very cold pursuit.

Driving through the North-East with Piia Wirsu and seeing a wedged-tail eagle take off and fly gracefully over the work car, sampling a new beer with Harry Murtough, or catching a red-eye flight back form Melbourne with Alex Druce so someone could pick me up from the airport and take me straight to the Supercars at Symmons Plains, you can't beat a journalist for company.

I remember highly amusing road trips to the Devonport and Latrobe carnivals with columnist Brian Roe and Rob Shaw, the details of some of those conversations remain not fit for print.

However, the most memorable shift with a journalist goes to former court reporter Sarah Aquilina and our coverage of the New World Avenue siege in 2018.

With all of our colleagues heading off to our annual staff Christmas party, Sarah and I sat at the police roadblock, hearing the odd gunshot and watching the heavily armoured bearcat roll up while both of us were dressed to the nines.

We did eventually make it to the party, our crew had already drunk the tab.

Some days have been long, some images uninspiring, some subjects elusive, but when it all came together, first in my viewfinder and then on a page, nothing beat that feeling.

Thanks for following my journey, it's been a privilege to share it with you.

Scott Gelston, April 2020