If there is anything I have learned over the last few months of this job, it is to LOOK AFTER YOUR EQUIPMENT, writes our Video Blogger James Shaw.

There is nothing worse than unpacking a bag full of equipment, only to find that a vital piece is either missing or just broken.

This happened to me during the unveiling of GCSE results across Telford.

Firstly, the camera had literally only been taken out of the box a few days beforehand – and consequently, I hadn’t been blessed with enough time to set any of the gain, white balance, iris, or sound properly.

This meant I was forced to fiddle with my buttons while on the job and was not really happy with the end results.

What made the situation worse was the fact that the sun was very strong on that morning, which made the bright areas very bright and the dark areas very dark.

I was also forced to contend with a broken microphone, which meant I had to rely on using the onboard offerings.

While they do pick up the sound with some degree of accuracy, onboard microphones always give the sound a little bit of echo.

Oh, and of course, the tripod literally snapped, meaning I had to constantly hold the camera to stop it falling backwards.

But all in all, it wasn’t a terrible video – a little shorter than I would have liked, but just about satisfactory . . . apart from one terrible thing.

Returning from the last school with a tape full footage to edit, the final, awful, realisation hit me – I really AM old enough to be their father.