Roy's got it wrong

I was truly shocked to read a blog entry by the Guardian's Roy Greenslade arguing that the Johnston Press decision to get rid of staff photographers up and down the country "makes sense".

Greenslade said "relying on... citizens with smartphones to provide pictures is far cheaper than having photographers on staff". He added that there was always someone on hand to "snap a picture" and so "newspaper photographers are therefore redundant".

I worked in the newspaper industry for more than 30 years (and still do a fair bit of freelancing). When I took redundancy, I decided to pursue my passion for photography in the hope that I might switch careers.

I didn't pick up my smartphone and start straight away. I've worked with photographers and photographs, so I know there's far, far more to the job than that. In fact, I felt I had so much to learn I enrolled on a full-time course.

Here are just a few examples of why professionals matter: