Gersh Photo Post | Max Gersh | Multimedia Photojournalist

I’ve just about rounded out my first month at the Rockford Register Star in Rockford, Ill. This month has flown by. I love that I’m busy shooting again.

The first day on the job was a little sluggish. Paperwork. And lots of it. That is until a vehicle rolled over on a snow-covered bypass. I rushed out there and got photos of the firefighters using the jaws of life to free the man stuck inside.

MAX GERSH | ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR ©2010 Blackhawk firefighters work to free a man trapped in a gray Chevrolet Malibu Monday night on US Bypass 20 at near Simpson Road. Fire Chief Harry Tallacksen said the driver's injuries weren't critical.

And yes, that is snow still falling. I had to brush off my car after my brief time there shooting.

While that was a little bit of excitement on my first day, this time of year can be slow. Assignments have been thin. That has left plenty of time to explore the town and search for stand-alone art. I drove into a state park and found ice fisherman. For the first time in my life, I stepped out onto a frozen over lake and treaded softly.

MAX GERSH | ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR ©2010 Nick Lashock of Machesney Park fishes through the snow and ice Thursday, Dec. 27, 2010, on Pierce Lake at Rock Cut State Park in Loves Park. Lashock caught 8 crappie and tossed them all back.

As the new year approached, they wanted art to go with a story about how law enforcement would be stepping up their patrols. I met up with a sheriff’s deputy to get photos of him shooting radar.

MAX GERSH | ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR ©2010 Senior Deputy John Parry shoots a radar gun Thursday, Dec. 30, 2010, on South Main Street near the US 20 Bypass in Rockford.

Early in January, my editor called me while I was driving into work to divert me to the scene of a morning house fire. The flames were out long before I got there. However, the arson dog made for a decent frame.

MAX GERSH | ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR ©2011 State Fire Marshal Kenny Arnold walks out of a burnt Wren Circle home Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011, with his dog, Ellie, who is trained to smell for accelerants. Rockford District Fire Chief Steve Bishop (not pictured) said the home was not currently being lived in and was undergoing renovations.

The next evening, I responded to a shooting at a shop in the city. Again, there was no “action” to get so a little bit of patience yielded a decent frame of police leaving the scene.

MAX GERSH | ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR ©2011 Police officers leave The Happy Shop Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011, after responding to a shooting on the 1500 block of Broadway in Rockford.

Working with the police and firefighters becomes routine for photojournalists. However, one of them helped me live out a dream while on assignment. I was photographing the firefighters training on a ladder truck at the fire station. Before I could finish thinking it, they invited me to go up the ladder. They didn’t have to ask me twice.

MAX GERSH | ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR ©2011 Firefighter Marcus Owens trains on an extended ladder truck Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011, at fire station 2 in Rockford.

It’s not every day that you get to spend a portion of your day at a liquor store. But I did when I was getting shots for a story on a “lucky” place to buy lottery tickets. This proved to be a challenge. A lot of people don’t want to be photographed while buying lottery tickets. This took a lot of patience and a little bit of sweet talking.

MAX GERSH | ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR ©2011 Barbara Kirchner (left) checks Angie Jackson's lottery tickets Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011, at Central Park Tap in Rockford. Jackson has been buying lottery tickets there twice a week for about 15 years, playing the same numbers every time. She won $150 on her Mega Millions ticket. "You can't win if you don't play," Jackson said.

Along the same lines, I had to get shots at an off-track-betting facility in town. I’m from Louisville, KY and everyone talks about gambling at “the track” (Churchill Downs). Apparently outside of Kentucky, many people like to keep their betting vices private.

MAX GERSH | ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR ©2011 Clarence Holmes watches horse races Monday, Jan. 10, 2011, at the off track betting facility at Don Carter Lanes in Rockford.

Many newspapers have pool lenses (no swimming pun intended) for the photographers, meaning a variety of lenses any shooter can take for the day when they need it. I decided to try out a lens I had never even seen in real life during a recent swim meet. Canon’s 200mm L f/1.8 lens. This lens isn’t even made anymore. The closest current lens is a 200 f/2. The aquatics center I was shooting in was incredibly dark. My camera was set to 1600 ISO and f/1.8 at 1/250th sec. That lens rocks.

MAX GERSH | ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR ©2011 Max Saichek of Jefferson High School competes in the 100 yard butterfly event Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011, at the Jefferson High School boys swim invitational in Rockford.

I look forward to a long career in Rockford. Many more things to come.

A day in the life of a photojournalist. Some days are slow. Many are non-stop. Assignments can be spontaneous and range in topics. That keeps the job interesting.

Yesterday was no exception. I went to the high school to get art for a story on College GO Week. There weren’t a lot of photogenic opportunities. I was told that teachers were invited to wear shirts from their colleges. I found a teacher that would let me sit in on his class for a little bit to get a few shots of him is his Purdue apparel.

Bill Wessler wears his Purdue shirt Thursday afternoon while teaching a government class at New Castle Chrysler High School during College GO Week. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

Bill Wessler wears his Purdue shirt Thursday afternoon while teaching a government class at New Castle Chrysler High School during College GO Week. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

Shortly after getting back in the office, a call came over the police scanner for a house fire in a neighboring town. I rushed down there since the dispatcher kept calling in more and more departments to help fight the blaze. As it turns out, this home predates the Civil War and was a stop in the Underground Railroad.

Firefighters finish extinguishing a house fire Thursday afternoon in Spiceland. The homeowners were downstairs when a neighbor alerted them of the fire which was visible in the upstairs windows. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

A firefighter communicates out of a second story window with crews on the ground Thursday afternoon while trying to locate hot spots in a home in Spiceland. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

Joey Cunningham, assistant fire chief at the Spiceland Volunteer Fire Department, looks out a second story window Thursday afternoon after extinguishing a house fire in Spiceland. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

Covering the fire made me late to a tennis match but I got there in time to get a few shots of the final matches.

New Castle's A.J. York volleys against an Anderson player Thursday afternoon during the No. 3 singles match. York lost in two sets, 6-3, 6-4. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

After that, I had to rush back to the office to make sure I got all of the photos edited and in the system before deadline.

Busy days are fun days as long as you have enough time to devote to each assignment.

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?

For those of you that don’t already know, I am a week in to my new job. I am the new Chief Photographer and Photo Editor at The Courier-Times in New Castle, IN.

The Courier-Times

The job comes with perks.

My personal parking spot at The Courier-Times

I love the challenge of making an interesting photo, no matter the situation. That is something I had to do my first day on the job.

The town is building a Mr. Fuel gas station right off the interstate. I guess I should say they will be building one. Right now, it is just an empty field.  I decided it was best to show the location and leave the empty field in the background.

The southwest corner of the Interstate 70 and Ind. 3 will be the home to a new Mr. Fuel station. (C-T photo Max Gersh)

As we were winding down for the day and getting ready to send the paper off to the press, news breaks. A man robbed CVS Pharmacy.

Narcotics officers come down from the roof of Greenstreet Elementary School on Monday night after recieving a robbery report from CVS Pharmacy. A man allegedly threw a bag of narcotics on the school's roof. The bag is being carried away by an officer in the foreground of this photo. (C-T photo Max Gersh)

Here is how it played the next day.

The next morning, I drove to Tri Elementary School to cover a science fair.

Tri Elementary students walk through the gym and look and their classmates science fair projects. (C-T photo Max Gersh)

I then shot a portrait of a kid who is donating almost 50 pairs of his shoes to Haiti.

For something a little different the next day, I photographed a hearse pulling out of a funeral home. The man being cremated was a well know member of the community that road a Harley. So it was only fitting to take him to the grave the same way.

Charlie Williams is led to his grave by a Harley Davidson motorcycle pulling his hearse. (C-T photo Max Gersh)

That night, we kept an eye on the window waiting for the impending snow storm. The next morning, we started getting pounded by snow, accumulating something like ten inches in the next 24 hours.

Driving conditions on Memorial Dr. (Ind. 3) during a snow storm. (C-T photo Max Gersh)

Blowing snow caked onto a street sign near memorial park in New Castle, IN. (C-T photo Max Gersh)

Snow nearly hides a tree from sight in Memorial Park. (C-T photo Max Gersh)

Hay bails and tires sit stacked and snow-covered at the bottom of a popular sled hill in Memorial Park. (C-T photo Max Gersh)

Snow covered roads in New Castle, IN, a few days after a snow storm. This road is directly in front of The Courier-Times office. (C-T photo Max Gersh)

Thank god I bought a Subaru!

This morning I had my first sporting event. Almost all of the games for the weekend were canceled because many of the counties were in a level 3 snow emergency. That means if you travel on the roads and it is not an emergency, you can be ticketed or arrested.

The regional bowling tournament was postponed a day so I shot that briefly this morning. When there isn’t a good vantage point to shoot from in front, it is difficult to make a nice bowling shot. I focused on the coach and team while a teammate was bowling.

Trojans head coach Ronald Ragan (right) watches over his team during the first round of bowling Sunday morning at Rose Bowl for the Indiana High School Bowling Club Regional Tournament. The tournament was scheduled for Saturday but heavy snow in the area left many counties under a snow emergency. (C-T photo Max Gersh)

So what’s next?

Unfortunately, I can’t predict spot news. But I do know my area is set to get another 4-8 inches of snow on Tuesday. I have a feeling more snow photos are in my future.

I love being a photojournalist. I have something different to do every day. It never gets old and it never will.