Beat
I cover the migration crisis, general news sport and daily life.
One Shot
“We were on a rescue with Migrant Offshore Aid Station. Suddenly, one migrant slipped sideways and like dominos people lost their balance and fell into the sea. It was chaos. I kept shooting as the rescuers leapt into action. I was grabbing hold of people with one hand and shooting with the other. I think it's one of the most powerful images I've ever taken.”
Profile
My first picture? I must have been about six or seven, using a toy camera loaded with black and white film I'd got for Christmas from my parents. I vaguely recall taking a picture of my cousins in my grandmother's house after Christmas Day lunch, as they went through piles of wrapped presents, trying to figure out which were theirs.
My dad subscribed to National Geographic at the beginning of 1980 and I was instantly hooked on photojournalism. But it was the issue dealing with the eruption of Mount St Helen's that sealed it for me.
I learnt to photograph by shooting miles of film, devouring photography books and magazines, going to exhibitions, leafing through newspapers, and trying to imitate what I saw. After I won an award in a local photography competition, a magazine ran a short feature on me. The publishers were also an advertising agency and started giving me odd jobs here and there.
My first assignment was shooting the interiors and exteriors of a hotel. I think they were nuts to give such a job to an absolute beginner. But I'm not complaining, it helped me get started.
I eventually did some training with the National Council for the Training of Journalists in the UK, and completed a Masters Degree in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the University of the Arts, London.
I visited Uganda with an NGO on a field study trip concerning the Millennium Development Goals. I felt it was important to get a feel of the situation in Africa, since my home country of Malta has been so affected by immigration from there. Seeing the poverty and the desperate situation experienced by many people was a real eye opener. Since then I’ve been trying to return to Africa, visiting different countries, on an annual basis shooting for another NGO.
I learnt a big lesson the hard way in Rome when I went to an assignment without my laptop and had to return to the bureau in order to file, and consequently I missed “the picture”. I learnt never to go anywhere without my laptop and the capability to file pictures on site.
I respect all my colleagues at Reuters, many of whom are working and producing incredible bodies of work in circumstances infinitely more demanding than mine.
No working day is like another, and by and large we're getting paid to practice our number one hobby. What could ever beat that?
I hope that over the years I've managed to go beyond simply recording an event. Nowadays, if the light is right, I find myself reacting to the aesthetic of the scene first, rather than the content per se, which I feel is important to making stronger and different photographs.
With the internet it is no longer as essential to tell the whole story in a single image. But when you manage that, then you can really say you've clinched it.
Being a photojournalist wreaks havoc with your social life: you can't really make plans, and it can be pretty tough on the family too. Having a supportive family is essential, or you'll quickly end up with no family at all. A big thank you to my very supportive wife and daughter!
I'm convinced there will always be a huge demand for high-quality still news photography, and I hope I'll still be doing it throughout my career.
Behind the Scenes
