From the Baftas red carpet to the Turkey earthquake zone in 24 hours

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Rob with Anna Foster
Image caption,

Rob Taylor is covering the earthquakes with Anna Foster, the BBC's Middle East Correspondent

Imagine going from the glitz and glamour of a red carpet with Hollywood stars passing at every moment to the rubble of an earthquake zone.

That's exactly what happened to cameraman Rob Taylor who experienced those two different worlds in 24 hours.

On Sunday night the 25-year-old was interviewing celebrities at the Baftas and by the end of Monday he was in Turkey covering the deadly earthquakes.

"It's a very interesting perspective that I've gotten," he tells Newsbeat.

"Seeing people who can't go into their homes or don't have their homes anymore, it makes you realise that you've got all these amazing award ceremonies that are really extravagant but then you come down on the ground in Turkey and things are totally different.

"It makes you open your eyes to it a bit."

Image caption,

Rob says reporting on the quakes gave him a different perspective about being at the Baftas on Sunday night

Rob, who works for BBC News, went from the Baftas red carpet to Adana in Turkey, where he thought he was covering the aftermath of the earthquake that happened earlier this month.

But he soon realised he was going to be covering something even more serious when another powerful 6.4 tremor quake struck near the city of Antakya - close to the border with Syria - on Monday.

"I arrived at my hotel and within an hour there was another earthquake," he says.

"I was fortunate that our hotel was away from the epicentre. The hotel is a fairly modern building and everything was shaking."

The earlier earthquakes killed 44,000 people in Turkey and Syria, with tens of thousands more left homeless.

And buildings weakened by those tremors then collapsed when the further quake struck on Monday.

"When the earthquake happened, I had to spring into action and within 20 minutes I was alongside my team," Rob says.

"This sort of thing is a team effort. And then within 50 minutes, we were reporting on national TV.

"It was such a difference to the Baftas where everything is running to a set schedule."

Image caption,

Rob doesn't know how long he will be in Turkey

Similarly to earlier this week, Rob says he is now getting ready for the unpredictability and long hours of the next few days.

"Our job is to be here and ready for any stories that arise and of course we are trying to find stories as the story progresses," he says.

"But I have no idea what the next few days look like.

"We'll see what tomorrow brings."

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