Our photographers are The Canberra Times' eyes and ears on the ground, recording Canberra's news and history one photo at a time.
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They are the unsung heroes of our newsroom, and chances are you've had your photo taken by one of them in the past year.
They don't like to boast about their work, but as 2017 draws to a close, we've asked them to do to just that and highlight their favourite photos of the year. Follow The Canberra Times on Instagram to stay up to date with all our photographers' best shots.
Here are Sitthixay Ditthavong's most memorable for the year:
"One thing that never gets easier as a news photographer is photographing tragedy. The discomfort one feels when making images of people at their most vulnerable can be overwhelming.
"I was doing all that I could to suppress my nerves as I arrived at a candlelit vigil for Zeeshan Akbar, the 29-year-old who was fatally stabbed while manning a Queanbeyan service station in April. I thought about the two ways I could approach it. I could minimise my intrusion by making a quick picture and leaving. Or I could capture the moment as faithfully as possible, becoming invested to the point where I felt within myself that I had the right to stay. I chose the latter.
'It was the randomness and the cruelty of the crime that tested my faith in people. It was the family, friends, and strangers united on a dark Saturday night that made this story stay with me."
