There are some pieces of advice given early in your working life which you never forget.

For me, the most memorable nugget came from the picture editor of a national tabloid newspaper where I did freelance shifts as an inexperienced news reporter.

His advice was laced with many swear words, but the edited version went something like this: "You can get the best story in the world and write it up like a Pulitzer Prize winner, but if you don't have a decent picture to back it up, then it won't make the paper."

As a new exhibition of work by 35 photographers working in the field of editorial photography in Scotland reveals, press photographers are often present to record the first draft of history. What is clear from this show at Glasgow's Hidden Lane Gallery is that they work hard - often with very little - to create a stand-out picture.

Included here is a shot by The Herald's Gordon Terris of Sir Sean Connery in the swimming pool at his home in the Bahamas. The image is accompanied by a top anecdote (photographers always have an anecdote, let me tell you...)

The story goes something like this; Gordon arrives at the star's house in Nassau, having lost his luggage. "Where's your shorts, man?" Connery demands. On hearing Gordon's tale of lost-luggage woe, Sir Sean provides him with white sports shorts and shirt, as well as a pair of his black underpants, which Gordon changes into in the star's ornate bathroom.

Back home in Scotland, Gordon's mother-in-law, a Connery fan, "borrows" the pants to show her workmates, who proceed to make photocopies of the fancy pants which they distribute far and wide. A few months later, Gordon is part of a press pack in Edinburgh taking Connery's picture. "Are you still wearing my knickers?" the star demands to know.

Seeing Ourselves As The Press Sees Us has been put together by two seasoned press photographers, Drew Farrell and John Linton, on behalf of scottish.photos, a group set up to promote the art of Scottish editorial photographers. This exhibition is supported by the Scottish Press Photographers Association.

Its theme is Scottish identity and, as the dust settles after the referendum, what better time to be rounding up pictures which can only be described as "belters" (a technical term, which Farrell and Linton define on their website as "just a really, really good picture"). They range from newsy to lifestyle and from photo-call to right place/right time shots.

Several of the pictures went viral on social media after appearing in the press. Take Ian MacNicol's shot of Scot Mark McConville, sporting a Jimmy Hat and waving a Saltire, wedged between Uruguayan fans in the crowd at Brazil 2014. Or Mark Ferguson's Team Scotland uniform picture of smiling young people showing off Jilli Blackwood's designs for Glasgow 2014. This image sparked a furore, with some critics even setting up a petition calling for the uniforms not to be used. Happily it was all right on opening ceremony night.

Not all the pictures are recent ones. Gary Doak's 1996 picture of former Conservative Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Forsyth, shows the kilted politician at a seminal moment in recent history; when the Stone of Destiny was returned to Edinburgh Castle after a 700-year absence.

Sporting moments are meat and drink for press photographers, but David Cruikshanks's 1989 picture of a jubilant Maurice Johnston, portrayed seconds after he scored for Rangers against his old club, Celtic, tells you more than I could in a thousand words.

Other sportsmen and women are also represented here, including a fine shot by Alan Peebles of athlete Eilish McColgan, in a vivid red vest, running along Carnoustie beach. Tony Nicoletti's image of Usain Bolt in a huge tartan tammy after Jamaica won the gold medal in the 4x100m relay at Glasgow 2014 is another cracker, as is John Linton's picture of athlete Lynsey Sharp, taken just after she received a silver medal for her extraordinary performance in the 800m at the Games.

I also loved the portraits of artists. Drew Farrell's picture of Alasdair Gray at Kelvingrove captures his Puckish spirit, while Robert Perry's portrait of the late John Bellany, surrounded by his own vivid canvases in his studio, is an essay in showing, not telling.

As you'd expect, the great and the good of Scottish life are represented. Two sides of Alex Salmond are laid bare. One - by John Linton - portrays him in jovial mood serving food to members of the Sikh community in Glasgow, while a more statesmanlike shot, by Gary Doak, sees him contemplating Scotland's future in his office at Bute House, Edinburgh.

If you love photography, you will love this exhibition, which captures a nation in all sorts of unexpected ways.

Seeing Ourselves As The Press Sees Us, The Hidden Lane Gallery, Argyle Street, Glasgow (G3 8LZ, 07760 669011, www.hiddenlanegallery.com) until October 11