When the Mail’s senior photographer, Phil Dawes, was dishing tea out to the reporters 39 years ago, little did he realise where his tea-making duties would lead him.

Nowadays, Phil is more likely to be found drinking tea than making it, but not I hasten to add, during work time. His role as photographer means he hardly has time to take his coat off before he is out on the streets again, looking for that perfect picture.

Phil has covered many of the Mail’s breaking stories. Who can forget the plight of young Molly-Ann Barnett, the young leukaemia sufferer whose family made a worldwide plea for a bone marrow donor, while Molly’s illness took a firm grip?

Experienced cameraman Phil was there at every stage, photographing Molly before, during and after her gruelling treatment.

His photographs portrayed perfectly the family’s worries, sadness and eventual joy, when a suitable donor was found, proving a perfect match for the youngster, who is now well on the way to leading a normal, healthy life.

As Phil’s job titles have changed over the past decades, so has his photographic equipment. It is almost unbelievable to think that when he started at the Mail, the company used glass negatives. Yes, glass!

The year 2001 saw the Mail’s photographers going digital and Phil now has the use of a state-of-the-art digital camera, a laptop computer and a mobile phone – a package costing in the region of £7,000.

Of course, all this equipment helps Phil to capture the everyday life and times of every-day folk across the Mail’s distribution area.

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