From 2006 to 2016, I was regularly commissioned by BAFTA to photograph its major awards ceremonies, including the Film, Television and Games Awards.

For much of that period I was virtually the only stills photographer working inside the auditorium during the ceremony.

My position would usually be allocated close to the television autocue camera, giving me a clear view of the stage without interfering with the television production. I worked with several camera bodies, typically using 200mm and 400mm lenses, photographing the winners as they walked onto the stage, accepted their awards and reacted in those first few seconds after winning

I would also attend the rehearsals, photographing them for BAFTA's archive rather than for immediate publication. Once the actual ceremony began, everything became about speed.

As I shot, runners would collect my memory cards and take them to editors working elsewhere in the venue. The photographs were edited, captioned and distributed while the ceremony was still taking place. By the time the final awards had been presented, images I'd taken only minutes earlier were already appearing in publications around the world.

There was another complication: I also had to photograph the arrivals. That meant shooting celebrities as they entered the event before making a very quick transition from the arrivals area into the auditorium and being in position before the ceremony began. The turnaround could be extremely tight.

Inside the auditorium I had to wear a dark suit and tie and work as unobtrusively as possible. Television cameras, presenters and the audience couldn't be disrupted - but at the same time I had to make sure BAFTA had the photographs of every important winner and moment.