Everyone in the office had gone home. I was in a taxi on the way to sign the lease on my new house, thinking of the two weeks leave ahead of me when I got a text message alerting me to a siege at a Manila courthouse.Unhappy with the outcome of a legal case, a man armed with a pistol and a grenade was holding four hostages. Our first photographer on the scene, Cheryl Ravelo, immediately called for reinforcements and longer lenses and was quickly backed up by colleague Romeo Ranoco.

By the time I made it through the roadblocks, the scene was illuminated by floodlights, journalists had marked off spots along the fence facing the courthouse and locals were watching TV crews doing live shots. SWAT teams were already inside and in hidden positions nearby but the word was that the Mayor wanted to avoid bloodshed and was demanding a negotiated solution; some were saying that a police sniper was going to take out the hostage taker.

At midnight Cheryl went home to rest. Romeo and I settled in for the night, although the only pictures were of SWAT team members popping out for a smoke and it was impossible to doze on the hard ground with the noise of generators so close by. In the morning there were more rumours; an assault was imminent, the hostage taker was demanding money to release the hostages. More journalists showed up, others were replaced, all watched by a swelling crowd of spectators. Among the journalists, overtime claims and breakfast became the common topics but when breakfast coffee arrived it tasted like the cloud of dust kicked up from the street.

As the sun rose so my energy levels fell and the coffee did little to help. Nothing was happening; nobody had taken a photograph for hours. Some photographers dozed in sitting positions on their ladders. Many from the press were shouting and joking with each other, but they were the ones who spent the night in their own beds. It seemed like it was never going to end. I was on leave and had already secured my window seat on a flight out of Manila next morning that it increasingly seemed I would miss. I just wanted to curl up in a ball and go to sleep.

Then Cheryl arrived with the promise of a home cooked lunch for any photographer prepared to chip in a few dollars. The buffet was set for noon. More text messages, some even from inside the courthouse, brought more rumours; SWAT were ready, snipers were ready and we argued about likely scenarios as we waited.

The welcome distraction of the promised lunch, set up on a table right in front of the court, took our minds off things for a while. There was even ice cream.

Then we returned to positions with the three of us along the fence, covering every possible angle. Shortly afterwards an ambulance moved closer to the front of the building and a car was parked beneath a second story window. The drama was unfolding.

Moments later a man appeared at the window. He slowly opened it and looked around. The pistol and grenade were clearly visible. I could not believe my eyes when he started to climb out of the window, carefully lowering his leg and checking around for police. It was an easy picture. Then seemingly deterred by the height of the jump he withdrew back into the room. There was gunfire and a large blast. Windows shook violently, but didnt break. Members of the SWAT team rushed out of and took up positions in front of the building but there was no more firing. Another ambulance arrived then some of the hostages were rushed out.

It was over!

Wed like to hear from anyone who has witnessed news events first hand and has the pictures to match.