Gersh Photo Post | Max Gersh | Multimedia Photojournalist

My week started off innocent enough. It was the first day that it really felt like Spring outside. I went to Baker Park to make a warm weather feature.

I hadn’t been there for 20 minutes when some kids showed with toy guns - or so I thought.

Kids show up at Baker Park in New Castle, IN with airsoft weapons. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

No. They weren’t real guns. But they were airsoft guns and probably didn’t belong on a playground.

Kids load their airsoft guns on the playground in Baker Park. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

A kid takes aim and fires his airsoft pistol in the Baker Park playground. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

Some parents called 911 and reported these kids. While the kids weren’t shooting at anyone, I think parents were concerned with ricochet.

A New Castle police officer gives a group of kids a warning after concerned parents called 911 to report the use of airsoft guns in the Baker Park playground. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

That was Monday.

Wednesday brought something much more exciting, journalisticly speaking.

I was headed back into New Castle after spending the morning grabbing some shots in Knightstown (which is in the southern part of Henry County). My phone rang. It was my news editor letting me know that an armed robbery had just taken place (but of course it was in the northern part of the county).

I arrived in time to watch officers from Henry and Randolph counties along with Indiana State Troopers  search the bright orange truck that was used as a getaway vehicle and the surrounding property.

Officers from Henry and Randolph counties and state troopers stand in front of the house where two men were arrested Wednesday after a robbery. The truck in the background was allegedly the getaway vehicle. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

After deciding jurisdiction, both of the suspects were transferred into the custody of the Randolph County Sheriff’s Department.

John Michael Evans places his hands on his head as Henry County Sheriff's deputies and Indiana State Troopers transfer him into the custody of the Randolph County Sheriff's Department. Evans was caught at his residence after allegedly committing armed robbery in Losantville. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

The weapon wasn’t recovered until the next day.

While in a meeting with the newsroom earlier this week, I asked everyone if they had any upcoming stories that they would like me to try and add some multimedia to.

Our sports editor spoke up immediately with an idea. He was doing a feature story on a kid that shoots incredible basketball trick shots at the YMCA.

Yesterday, I met up with the sports editor and the trick shot champion, Michael Harsha.

Michael Harsha is a trickster on the court. He practices his shots at the YMCA in New Castle. He played for the Trojans and graduated from New Castle Chrysler High School in 2009. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

I have done backboard still shots like the one above but this was my first attempt at a backboard video.

I stayed on the ladder while he was shooting to keep the video camera from moving too much. I didn’t use a GOBO so you can see my head moving around a little in the reflection.

Aside from getting nailed with the basketball in the leg a few times while I was up on the ladder, I think the video came together pretty well.

This last weekend was busy for me. First I had the Republican candidate Senate debate on Saturday. On Sunday, I was sent to photograph a service at the St. Anne Catholic Church. I had a few pictures of the church in a post not too long ago.

This was special service. The church was burnt down by an arsonist nearly three years ago. It has taken all that time to raise funds and rebuild. This was the churches dedication ceremony and first service since the fire.

In the slideshow, you will hear from Father Joe Rautenberg, the church’s Sacramental Minister, and from Sister Shirley Gerth, the parish life coordinator.

Yesterday, I covered a debate among the  five Republicans running for U.S. Senate in Indiana. The candidates - Marlin Stutzman, Don Bates Jr., Richard Behney, Dan Coats and John Hostettler - are competing for Sen. Evan Bayh’s seat.

The debate was held at the Moose Lodge in New Castle, IN. Because of the relatively small venue, tickets to the event sold out almost immediately. It was a full house.

I had the difficult juggling act of shooting stills while simultaneously shooting video.

Audio at this event was less than desirable. I had a shotgun mic on my video camera but there was a lot of space between the debaters and myself. I also set my portable audio recorder up close to the debaters as a backup. That came in very handy. At one point, the audio on their mics went haywire. My portable unit picked up a lot less of the buzzing noise for some reason.

The debate was rather tame. The candidates agreed on many points, or only had slightly varying positions.

The one thing that stood out during the debate was when former U.S. Senator Dan Coats and former U.S. Rep. John Hostettler went back and forth on their differing opinions of the war in Iraq.

When I edit a video, I try to keep it short and to the point. This argument between Coats and Hostettler seemed to be a good key difference between the candidates.

I added some photographs to the video to offer more visually appealing imagery.

For those of you that enjoy the tech specs of all of this, I was using a Canon FS-100 camcorder with an Audio-Technica ATR55 Telemike attached. My secondary audio recorder was a M-Audio MicroTrack II.

Here are a few still images from the day.

State Sen. Marlin Stutzman, far right, speaks during the debate on Saturday, From left to right are Don Bates Jr., Richard Behney, Dan Coats and John Hostettler. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

Former U.S. Senator Dan Coats speaks during the debate. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

Former U.S. Senator Dan Coats speaks during the debate. Also pictured are (left to right) Don Bates Jr., Richard Behney, John Hostettler, Marlin Stutzman and Nate LaMar.Former U.S. Senator Dan Coats speaks during the debate. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

Former U.S. Rep. John Hostettler speaks during the debate. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

Like I said in my previous post, I enjoy the challenge that comes with newspaper photojournalism. There is something different to shoot every day and I am obligated to make it visually appealing.

Earlier this week, I was given the task to photograph two high school swimmers that made it to the state finals. The reporter was meeting them at the beginning of their swim practice. I think he was under the impression that I would come and take a standard environmental portrait.

I decided to try something a little different.

When I was thinking about an environmental portrait, I came to the conclusion that their environment was in the pool, not at the pool. I wanted to take an underwater portrait.

I can’t afford an underwater housing for my camera so I had to improvise. One 10-gallon aquarium later, I was ready to go.

I set the camera longways in the aquarium with a 24-70mm lens attached and set at 24mm. The camera was triggered by a Pocket Wizard which in turn fired my 550EX Speedlight flash.

Because I was uncertain how the water would scatter my light, I wanted to do my best to directionalize my flash. I attached a Gary Fong PowerSnoot which turned my flash into a high-powered spotlight.

After a little experimentation, I got a shot I was satisfied with.

New Castle swimmers Aimee Haddix, left, and Hannah Espiritu pose for an underwater photo at Parkview Pool. The two swimmers are competing in today's state final. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

Is this perfect? Not by a long shot.

The biggest problem is just what I expected. The lighting. I feel that I probably needed at least one more light. It would also have been preferable to have those lights underwater somehow. That would require making a much more complex rig but might be something I try in the future.

The least of my worries was having my camera go underwater. The aquarium was so buoyant that it was actually a little difficult to keep submerged to the top of the lens. I had the writer that was with me apply a decent bit of pressure to keep it down.

I will consider this first attempt at an underwater portrait a success but I can’t wait to try again and put some new ideas to the test.

So that was one situation this week where I tried something a little different. The other is a little more practical.

The paper is doing a story on the St. Anne Catholic Church. A few years ago, an arsonist burned the church down. It has taken three years to rebuild. I was granted a sneak peak and I wanted to show everyone what the inside looked like.

It would have been easy enough to go up on the balcony and take a wide angle photo and squeeze as much in to the photograph as I could.

A view of the new St. Anne Catholic Church from the balcony. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

Even in this image shot at 24mm, there is so much of the church that is unseen.

I went out to my car and got my tripod. From the back row of pews, I started panning and tilting, taking incremental photos - 24 total.

I took those 24 separate photos and stitched them into a panorama that covered more than 180 degrees laterally.

The interior of the new St. Anne Catholic Church is seen in this photo illustration showing approximately a 180-degree view. The image was composed from 24 separate photos. (C-T photo illustration Max Gersh) ©2010

This photo will be running six columns across the page on today’s paper.

In an effort to maintain journalistic credibility, I do list this image as a photo illustration. Since this isn’t a capture of one moment in time, it has to be that way. Otherwise I risk compromising my ethics by misrepresenting a scene.

Part of my job as a photojournalist is to show you something you might not ordinarily see. That might be changing angles or getting somewhere you can’t. I think both of these images do that.

Let’s hope I don’t run out of fresh ideas. Any suggestions for what to try next?