How we got the shot: Illawarra Mercury photographer Robert Peet tells all

One crucial, and front-facing, element of Team Merc is the photography department.

Between them, the team - Robert Peet, Sylvia Liber, Adam McLean and Anna Warr - have spent thousands of hours behind the lens for the Mercury.

But now, in this four-part weekly series, we've turned the tables on them and asked them to share the story behind the photo.

First up, head of photography Robert Peet ...

This picture was taken August 10, 2005 at 10.33am, the north and south ends of the Sea Cliff Bridge finally met completing a years-long project.

Having taken countless photographs during all stages of the build it was truly a memorable moment capturing this construction milestone.

During the many visits to photograph the course of the bridges construction I got to learn some amazing things about the structure.

Not many people know the bridge has maintenance points to gain access inside the bridge, it's pretty much hollow and can be walked from inside end to end.

When the bridge was officially opened in December 2005 the Mercury ran a competition giving 10,000 people the chance to walk across the bridge.

We had a team of photographers covering that and photographed thousands of people over the day to mark this special occasion.

This photo was taken on March 2, 1996, at Bankstown Sports Club. It was election night and the club was with media and Labor supporters waiting for Paul Keating to make his speech announcing his defeat.

When he finally came onto the stage up to 15 photographers and just as many news cameras jostled for the best position.

Keating was a lonely figure on a large stage standing behind a lectern underneath a banner that read LEADERSHIP.

Looking around I knew everyone was shooting the same thing, a wide angle shot with Keating centred in frame underneath the banner,

I wanted something different. Changing to a long lens and shooting vertical only RS was visible, I couldn't believe my luck.

It was great having the image recognised by my peers, taking out the 1996 Hurley Award - Best News Photograph (Australasia).

I have a real love-hate relationship with my job.

I hate seeing the devastation caused for people by many 'hard news' stories, but I love being able to capture and share the photographs of people who, despite adversity, pick themselves up, soldier on and show that Aussie grit that so often humbles me.

In January 2020 journalist John Hanscombe and I travelled to Kangaroo Valley to visit locals and see how the area was recovering weeks after fires decimated the area.

We dropped in on Budgong residents Andy and Brigid Jordan, who stayed to defend their property.

The fire front arrived at 6.30pm, sweeping over the property and up the escarpment behind it. Brigid had two days earlier returned from a holiday in London.

These are John Hanscombe's words:

"It was horrific," says Brigid.

"We were worried but we were ready for it. We had been listening to that constant message from the RFS that besides having your property ready you've got to be physically and mentally prepared.

"Andy was trying to get me to leave.

"I had to think really hard that if I was going to stay I wasn't going to go loopy or lose my bottle at the last minute or be a liability.

If I was going to stay I wasn't going to go loopy or lose my bottle."

"It's okay to be scared but not to panic and that was it."

As the blaze roared up towards them the house next door exploded.

"I saw a tree at the bottom of the field on fire and by the time I turned around the house next door was on fire. It was like a hurricane."

"It was unreal," says Andy, "the noise and the wind was awful."

As the neighbour's house went up, one of the pumps simply melted. Luckily, another one enabled them to keep attacking the flames with water.

They say they would stay to defend the home again should fire again threaten it.

"Most definitely," says Brigid.

"I think that's the worse it could ever be. We know what it's about now."

The couple are still adjusting to life after the fire. Sleep is now returning to normal but they're still finding it strange talking to people who haven't been impacted.

For them, the threat has passed for now, simply because there is nothing left to burn."

The landscape for as far as they eye could see in every direction had been ravaged by fire, taking the photo of Andy and Brigid walking up their driveway is a scene that will stay with me forever.

The funeral of Bev Lawson was a moving and special event, the memory of which stays with me.

I'd been working at the Mercury for a few years by 1998 and understood the importance of the contribution that Bev Lawson had made to policing and the respect she had from the people of Wollongong.

Her sudden death came as shock to everyone.

When the day of her funeral arrived we knew it was going to be a moving event on a large scale.

I was just one of a team of Mercury photographers that covered the event.

I waited on O'Briens Road with the hundreds of people who lined the street in silence, listening to the tributes to Bev coming from speakers outside the packed church.

As the entourage began it's journey from the church I made my way to the middle of the road and with a telephoto lens usually used for sport I captured this image.

I felt a responsibility to record this occasion in a way that both honoured Bev and showed the importance her life and role as a police officer played in her community.

I'm truly fortunate to be able to call myself a career news photographer. I started my cadetship in Orange in the Central West aged 15, I had to apply to the NSW Police to obtain an exemption to get my provisional driver's license early. After nearly 10 years in Orange I was offered a job in Wollongong and have been with the Illawarra Mercury for 28 years now.

Most stories come and go very quickly, that's the general cycle of news. It's been a pleasure though to be covering some things regularly, watching things change and grow.

Symbio Wildlife Park has been one of those things. I've worked with generations of the Radnidge family over the years and covered both the good and the tough times the park has gone through.

From its humble beginnings to the destination wildlife park it is today I've photographed snakes, rabbits, monkeys, alligators, peacocks, kangaroos, wallabies, goats, lizards, turtles, tigers, meerkats, dingoes, all sorts of insects, red pandas, cockatoos, lemurs, farmyard animals of all shapes and sizes, cheetahs, countless reptiles and, of course, koalas.

We had a blistering hot summer to start 2009. The staff resorted to creating rainforest showers to help the koalas beat the heat.

This is one of my favourite pics from nearly three decades of visiting Symbio, I'm sure this koala was smiling at me as the drenching shower cooled things down.