Gersh Photo Post | Max Gersh | Multimedia Photojournalist

Some assignments can sound that boring. I’ve been told to go out and photograph a building for a story. Too many times.

Most architectural photographers will either use tilt-shift lenses on a 35mm camera or some sort of larger format of camera that can adjust the lens and film planes accordingly. This is because on a standard lens, the lines on a building appear to converge. This is known in the photographic world as keystoning or tombstoning. Proper usage of a tilt-shift can keep the lines straight.

That being said, I’m not an architectural photographer. I need a nice image that gives clear visual representation of the pictured building. I try to turn a building photograph into a building portrait.

To make an interesting photo of a building, I often rely on fundamental photography skills. Look for unique angles. Find patterns. Wait for nice light.

For me, this often leads me to look up. I have had editors say that the ground should be included in building images to provide a reference point for the viewer. I can see that justification in some circumstances. However, I shot some of my most compelling building photos (if you can truly call any building picture compelling) while looking up.

I had to shoot an under-construction apartment building for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I took one photograph that included the ground and gave a view of most of the building.

The Ford apartments building remains boarded up at the intersection of Pine Street and 14th Street. Max Gersh | Post-Dispatch ©2008

I thought it was kind of boring. However, it showed what the building looked like. This building is filled with patterns so I started to experiment with my angles until I found something I really liked.

When I looked up at the building from the sidewalk, my eyes followed the not-so-yellow brick road. The building’s inherent depth almost gives the illusion that it is laying on its side.

The Ford apartments building remains boarded up at the intersection of Pine Street and 14th Street. Max Gersh | Post-Dispatch ©2008

As much as I enjoyed the above picture, I wanted to find a better way to illustrate this particular building. I tried to work with the available patterns and incorporate the building’s awning which included its address.

The Ford apartments building remains boarded up at the intersection of Pine Street and 14th Street. Max Gersh | Post-Dispatch ©2008

I liked the idea but not the execution. The photo was bland. So again, I moved around, got close and looked up.

The Ford apartments building remains boarded up at the intersection of Pine Street and 14th Street. Max Gersh | Post-Dispatch ©2008

This photo incorporated the best parts of each photo. Angle. Patterns. Awning. Address. This was the published piece.

I recently had to shoot another building. Since this building is only a block away from my office, I was able to wait for opportune lighting.

First I looked for patterns.

An old cigar ad remains on the side of what will be the Maxwell Commons in downtown New Castle after much of the building has received a coat of paint. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

Then I looked for a better angle.

Restoration on the building that will be the Maxwell Commons is well underway in downtown New Castle. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

Both photographs ran in the paper.

These are by no means Pulitzer winning photos. They are representative of how a photojournalist can rely on artistic knowledge to compose a printable image of the most mundane and static subjects.

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.

If there was one valuable thing about photography that I learned in college, it was the science behind lighting.  Understanding the inverse square law and how multiple lights can affect an image proved to be invaluable to me.

While I was at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, I had an editor give me the idea of shooting a food set with multi-point lighting. The basic multi-point setup includes three lights. One each to the left and right and one from behind. The problem is I only have one light - my Canon 550EX Speedlight.

While I was realizing how impossible this was with my gear, my editor opened my eyes. Why not set the camera on a tripod and shoot a long exposure. During that time, I can walk around with my flash off of the camera and fire it manually multiple times from multiple angles.

Voila. Max’s quick and easy multi-point lighting was born.

The one problem with it is that it is very hard to replicate an image. You can never get the light exactly where it was before. This is one of those situations where you shoot a lot with a general idea and hope for the best.

The first time I attempted and accomplished this technique was exactly one year ago on location at a Brazilian restaurant in the Central West End of St. Louis called Coco Louco Brasil.

Monday February 16, 2009 Coco Louco Brasil Foreground: Espeto Misto - kabob with pricanah (brazilian steak), smoked sausage, shrimp, filet mignon wrapped in bacon, chicken wrapped in bacon, onions Background: Tostada de Camarão - shrimp sauteed in Bobo sauce served on toasted garlic bread. Max Gersh | Post-Dispatch ©2009

For that shot, the camera was set for a four second exposure at f/16 and ISO 100. If I remember accurately, I fired the flash three to four times.

Coincidentally, I used the same technique today.

I was given the last minute assignment to shoot a group of local high school wrestlers that have advanced to the state championships. I wanted to isolate them in the image. I turned off all of the lights in the room and fired the flash twice - once from each side.

New Castle wrestlers (left to right) Connor Mullins, Brenden Campbell, Alex Catron and Cody Fellers will compete Friday and possibly Saturday in the Indiana High School Athletic Association state championships. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

This time, the camera was set to a two second exposure at f/8 and ISO 400. I also was using the Gary Fong PowerSnoot on my flash.

With one light and forward thinking, any image is possible.

Cell phones are everywhere. Most people have one. Many people have more than one. It should come as no surprise to me for people to be using their phones in my pictures.

As a society, we are now used to seeing citizens take out their phones to snap pictures at the passing by celebrity or even from the upper deck at a sporting event. National Geographic even published a book on how to optimize your cell phone photography.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008 Fans embrace Will Smith as he exits the St. Louis Post-Dispatch building Wednesday afternoon. One fan in the lower section of this image can be seen photographing Smith with a cell phone. Max Gersh | Post-Dispatch ©2008

But is it always appropriate to be on your phone? Does it sometimes go beyond what social etiquette deems acceptable?

I want to say upfront that I pass no judgment on the people in these photos. I have no idea what is considered acceptable in their fields. These images just struck me as peculiar.

This first photo is from St. Louis on the Martin Luther King Bridge. There was a fatal car accident. I was shooting from the MetroLink station in Illinois just south of the bridge.

The police officer in the photo had already taken what I presume were the official photos of the scene with a DSLR. Then, it appeared as if he were taking shots of the wreckage with his cell phone.

Friday, December 5, 2008 A police officer holds up his cell phone at the scene on an early-morning fatal accident that blocked all traffic on the Martin Luther King bridge. Max Gersh | Post-Dispatch ©2008

Today while photographing a meeting of the New Castle/Henry County Economic Development Corp. (EDC), one of the panel members seemed to have trouble staying off of his phone.

Scott Hayes, right, a New Castle-Henry County Economic Development Corp. board member, talks on Monday about problems the EDC has with a proposal for an economic development alliance while County Commissioners Kim Cronk and Bill Cronk listen. (C-T photo Max Gersh) ©2010

These photos have no significant meaning other than the included cell phone usage caught me off  guard.

Again I want to stress that I pass no judgment on the people in these photos. I don’t know if there was something of the utmost importance that couldn’t wait. I just felt like sharing these images to see if anyone else had to think twice about the situation.

I’ve always been a supporter of the idea that it is the photographer that makes the image and not the camera that he/she uses. While my close friends constantly hear me praise Canon and bash Nikon (jokingly, of course), a good photographer can make a dynamite image with a disposable film camera.

That being said, I had an opportunity to shoot with a fantastic camera - the Pentax K-7. This is Pentax’s ultra-rugged flagship camera. Considering that I learned photography on a Pentax ME Super, this was a very welcome homecoming to Pentax for me.

While I didn’t get to test the dust, weather or cold resistance of this camera, I did get to shoot a handful of portraits with it. I paired it with a Pentax 50-135 f/2.8 DA* lens and a Pentax AF-540FGZ flash used in wireless mode off camera. For a few shots, I even used the kit 18-55 WR lens. I had no trouble picking up the entire system on the fly and sincerely enjoyed the results.

The 14.6 megapixel files aren’t given any justice on this blog, but take my word for it that they are stunning.

Gavin Culbertson and Yuefeng Deng - Shot on the Pentax K-7 with the 50-135 DA* lens. © 2009 Max Gersh

Gavin Culbertson and Yuefeng Deng - Shot on the Pentax K-7 with the18-55 WR lens. © 2009 Max Gersh