Gersh Photo Post | Max Gersh | Multimedia Photojournalist

What do you call a 50 lap race on Big Wheel tricycles?

In Henry County, Indiana, they call it the Titan 500.

Tri Elementary School in Straughn, Indiana hosts the event every year. Kids in fourth, fifth and sixth grade form teams to compete in the event.

It may not be the most important race in Indiana but to these kids, wining secures a year’s worth of bragging rights.

Once the wheels start spinning, it is mass chaos. Spectators are screaming. The racers are struggling. Bikes are falling apart. All elements that make a photo rich environment.

The No. 5 Puma team repairs their Big Wheel tricycle with duct tape Wednesday, May 26, 2010 after it fell apart on the track during the first lap of the Titan 500. (AP Photo/The Courier-Times, Max Gersh) ©2010

I focused much of my attention on last year’s winning team, No. 23 Dr. Pepper. This year, they won with at least six laps separating them from second place.

In this May 26, 2010 photo, Corbin Pew, No. 23, leads the pack of Big Wheel tricycle racers behind pace car driver Ken Gregory Wednesday afternoon during a warm up lap at the Titan 500 in Straughn, Ind. This is Pew's third year racing. (AP Photo/The Courier-Times, Max Gersh) ©2010

In this May 26, 2010 photo, Grant Jessup, number 23, pedals past his competition during the Titan 500, a 50 lap Big Wheel tricycle race at Tri Elementary School in Straughn, Ind. (AP Photo/The Courier-Times, Max Gersh) ©2010

In this Wednesday May 26, 2010 photo, Jordan Rhodus lets out a scream as teammates Grant Jessup, left, and Travis Isaacs give him a push start out of the pit during the Titan 500 at Tri Elementary School in Straughn, Ind. Their team, No. 23 Dr. Pepper, went on to win the race. (AP Photo/The Courier-Times, Max Gersh) ©2010

In this May 26, 2010 photo, members of the No. 23 Dr. Pepper team and winners of the race, from left, Jordan Rhodus, Grant Jessup and Travis Isaacs kiss the chalk-drawn bricks at the Titan 500 while teammate Corbin Pew lifts his head at the end of the Big Wheel tricycle race at Tri Elementary School in Straughn, Ind. (AP Photo/The Courier-Times, Max Gersh) ©2010

Here is how we packaged the story on A1.

The Courier-Times ©2010

I’m looking forward to photographing this again next year.

To see a few more photos from the race, check out the photo gallery on The Courier-Times’ website.

Every photojournalist has gone through a period where they think they are too good for a story. They think nothing photogenic will happen or even if it does, it wont be a great moment.

It only takes one good editor to set you straight.

Luckily I learned early that a great picture can be made in unexpected situations. I do my best to take every assignment with a positive attitude and capture the peak moment.

Here are a few recent examples.

I was headed to a high school to photograph inside of their greenhouse. The soft lighting, lines and color made for a nice picture package.

Tri High School senior Kirk Black pulls back the flowers to reveal a budding eggplant growing in Tri's greenhouse. (C-T photo Max Gersh)

Zach Henderson, junior at Tri High, ties up a tomato plant in Tri's greenhouse Wednesday afternoon during Dan Webb's horticulture class. Henderson says tying up the plants gives them more room to flower out. (C-T photo Max Gersh)

Aaron Cummings, senior at Tri High School, hangs plants in the Tri greenhouse Wednesday afternoon. (C-T photo Max Gersh)

Zach Henderson, junior at Tri High, waters various plants in Tri's greenhouse Wednesday afternoon during Dan Webb's horticulture class. (C-T photo Max Gersh)

Another example was when I had to photograph story time at the library. Many photographers would think this would be an ideal assignment. However, I find it hard to be the “fly on the wall” among a group of toddlers. It seems like they have a magnetic attraction to my camera.

Even in this environment, patience does indeed prove to be a virtue. If you have time, wait for the right moment to happen. And so I did.

Jennifer Hood, left, holds Ezra, one of her 2-year-old twins, while the other, Eli, sits in the lap of Hood's mother, Jan Masengale, center. Also pictured is Gerald Darling holding his 2-year-old grandson, Jacob Specht. The children were attending a toddler story time session on April 8, at the New Castle-Henry County Public Library. (C-T photo Max Gersh)

My last recent example is from a little league baseball game. I love shooting sports but sometimes the little guys just aren’t exciting to photograph. Their peak action isn’t always very…peak. On the other hand, their reactions can sometimes be over the top.

The Giants celebrate around Titen Bennett in the third inning after he hit a home run bringing in two runs for the team. (C-T photo Max Gersh)

Every photojournalist will look at assignments differently. Some may look down on sports while others may dislike feature shooting. For me, I thought that these stories might produce lackluster photos. I stayed the course and worked the scene until I found something interesting.

Most people can enjoy or appreciate a spring shower. It takes a bit of a unique personality like that of my own to enjoy strong storms that produce heavy rain, hail, lightning and occasionally tornadoes.

I have what one might call a slight obsession with storms. There is something soothing about them even thought they can often be incredibly violent.

When I know storms are coming, I listen to NOAA weather radio, SKYWARN frequencies and constantly monitor live Doppler radar images from my phone or computer. All of this is in hopes of positioning myself to photograph the storm.

Out of pure interest, I took a weather spotter training course. I figured that this was another tool to have in the belt to ensure my safety and best position myself.

These past two weekends, I have been in St. Louis. Both times, I was greeted with tornado sirens. On the first occasion, I was in St. Louis City. There were too many trees and closely grouped buildings to see the clouds and where the storm was coming from.

The next weekend, I was a little further out in rural St. Louis. As the storm clouds rolled in, I went out.

Storm clouds that later set the greater St. Louis metro area under a tornado warning roll in over Gravois Bluffs. ©2010 Max Gersh

The sky looked ripe to produce a powerful storm. The only problem is that is was almost night time. The sky was so dark, it would be impossible to see the tornado coming. Thinking safety first (which I don’t always do), I retreated to my girlfriends apartment in Fenton where I could watch the skies from a basement window.

As the storm geared up overhead, I put my camera on a tripod and started taking long exposures out of the window in hopes of capturing some nice lightning shots. While lighting photography is always a bit of a luck game, it proved to be more difficult than usual that night.

There were many tremendous bolts. However, many of those were overexposed because of the high volume of cloud lightning that served as a large, soft skylight.

Here are a few of the better images I made. Keep in mind that since I was inside seeking shelter, I didn’t have the luxury of changing angles. Also, the spots on the pictures are rain on the window I was shooting through.

A lightning bolt strikes the ground in rural St. Louis while the area is under a tornado warning. ©2010 Max Gersh

A lightning bolt strikes the ground in rural St. Louis while the area is under a tornado warning. ©2010 Max Gersh

A lightning bolt strikes the ground in rural St. Louis while the area is under a tornado warning. ©2010 Max Gersh

It wasn’t until later that I knew how close the tornado was to passing directly overhead. One of my friends who is a storm junkie similar to myself took a screen shot of his radar software as the storm was declared to have a confirmed tornado.

This image shows the relative storm velocity. It essentially measures wind speed and direction relative to the storm itself. This is a key element used in predicting tornadoes.

I was at the “A” marker, approximately.

This radar image shows the relative storm velocity of a storm that produced a confirmed tornado in the St. Louis area.

The pink warning polygons are areas under tornado warning while the green are flash flood warning. Obviously, they can and do overlap.

If you notice the red patch on the radar image just south of the “A” marker, that is an area of the storm with winds moving in a different direction than the storm itself. That is where the tornado was.

I’m hoping to get a tornado photograph by the end of this storm season. It’s too bad that all of the strong storms that I run into have been at night.