As an established freelancer you sometimes pick up assignments that to any budding photojournalist must seem like a win on the lottery. But is the life of a roving reporter all it's cracked up to be? Pleasure or work? Or is it something in-between?
OK - time to bust some myths, this is an example of how it goes.
The editor of DIVER asks if I can fly out to Mauritius to cover the 2007 CMAS World Underwater Photography competition. He knows I love to cover this sort of event, and so the answer was always going to be, "when do I fly out?"
Wednesday morning - leave the UK. Two flights later, a missed transfer bus and a long wait followed by a taxi gets me to the hotel at about 1100hrs Thursday. There's no time for a post flight rest on any assignment, you're straight to work, which on this occasion means: introducing myself to the organisers; picking up my press pass; 
working out who would be worth speaking to and who I must speak to; sorting out the next few days diving; ensuring that I could dive with one of the teams; planning my own timetable around the one suggested..... It's a long list.
Within an hour of arriving I'm out with my camera working out where I should position myself to capture the best shots for the evening's opening ceremony. This is followed by hanging around the teams as they return from their practice dives, introducing myself and picking up quotes. 
The opening ceremony goes well and I get the pictures of those who I've already figured out will get included in some way for what was at the time just going to be a news piece.
Friday - diving all day with the Mauritian team. All of the other journalists leave to dive on other sites as guests of the Mauritian Scuba Diving Association. Big mistake - aren't they there to cover the competition? Estee de Rond and Gerald Rambert from the Mauritian team turn out to be great dive buddies and eventually become a central theme for the article. The perfect underwater model? That'll be Estee.
Saturday - another day diving with the teams. I'm picking up so much material -
great anecdotes, colourful characters and some great quotes. I know that this will be more than just a news piece, but how to write it up in a way that is more like a feature? I still haven't worked that out yet.
Saturday evening, still out and about meeting people. You can't just go and hide in your room for a rest, you're an ambassador for the magazine and as such, need to act like one.
Sunday morning - Dive on the other side of the island with the rest of the journalists. I'm feeling quite smug as they start to realise how much material they have missed out on by going on leisure dives. 
Sunday lunch - meet with the editor of Asian Diver, her husband and Joe Moreira, managing editor of Ocean Geographic magazine (this contact proved invaluable - but that's another story).
Sunday afternoon - some rest, channel surfing in my room. There's not much on so I settle for a South African documentary about a beach fishing competition. I'm amazed at how the commentators make the landing of a fish onto a deserted beach so exciting. That's it, I'll write about the CMAS competition in a similar style - perfect!
Sunday night - judging, prize giving and closing ceremony.
Monday at stupid o'clock, leave for airport, fly home, I'm still collecting material in departures lounge and on the plane.
Tuesday morning - back to regular full time job, everyone insanely jealous. Me - knackered, don't they know I've been working? And now I have to write up
the copy?
The life of a roving reporter? One big holiday? Not quite - but I wouldn't swap it for any other part time job.
Keep writing
Brendan
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