Maxine Collins

As a BBC cameraperson, Maxine is often deployed to challenging environments, documenting everything from earthquakes to wildfires to war zones, including coverage of the conflict in Kosovo, the earthquake in Haiti, uprisings in the Middle East and the invasion of Crimea. 

Moving to Washington D.C. just before the 9/11 attacks was a dramatic start to Maxine's work in the United States. Since then, she's been based in both Washington and Los Angeles. Her coverage has included Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, multiple presidential elections, far right extremism and devastating wildfires across the West Coast. Maxine has been privileged to bear witness to world events and feels the responsibility to tell stories that engage, using the most creative means and latest technologies for both television and digital output. 

As one of only 5% women worldwide in the BBC camera department, Maxine's passion to rectify the gender imbalance in camerawork has led her to be a speaker at colleges and universities, a mentor and an advocate. 

Project topic: How to recruit more women into the role of cameraperson 

Sponsor: BBC