Staff at the Nottingham Evening Post will bid a fond farewell to one of the paper's longest-serving members of staff later this week - as photographer Steve Footitt retires.

The 61-year-old has spent his entire career at the Evening Post, joining the paper in 1959, and is now a familiar face across the city.

Known to friends and colleagues as 'The Baron', he can often been seen travelling from job to job on his beloved motorbike.

Steve said: "It's amazing how many people you get to know and how many people get to know you.

"I recently attended a civic reception where all the previous Sheriffs of Nottingham were there, and I knew every one of them and they all knew me."

During his time at the Evening Post, Steve has seen huge changes to the paper - which was a broadsheet when he joined - and to technology.

His first photographs for the paper were taken with a plate camera, and over the years he has worked with roll film, 35mm and now digital cameras.

Steve said: "It's changed enormously, but it hasn't changed - you are still recording the lives of the good, the famous and the ordinary.

"Modern technology allows you to work faster and more efficiently. You have always got to look to the future, nothing stands still. Me and Tony Stocks (who also recently retired from the Post) took to it like a duck to water."

Steve's job has also allowed him to travel, covering assignments in places such as Helsinki, Bruges and the Ukraine.

And he has witnessed the highs and lows of life, with memorable stories including Nottingham Forest's glory days in the European Cup, and the Kegworth air crash on the M1 just outside Nottingham that killed 47 people.

Steve said: "It has been an enjoyable job much of the time, and I have seen the good and the bad of life.

"I've always had an interest in photography from school, and there is still something magic about producing an image."

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