Beyond the Byline: Variety, thrills mark career of photojournalist Mark Welsh

Every day is a different reality is how Mark Welsh, photographer for the Daily Herald for the past 33 years, describes his career.

Mark has in that time frame met different personalities like Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Fidel Castro all on his daily assignments for the Daily Herald Media Group. He describes meeting Muhammad Ali as a key moment in his career.

"It's not every day you can sit down one on one with The Champ and have a specially prepared meal by his chef with such a living legend," he says.

Welsh also recalls meeting Fidel Castro on a trip for the Daily Herald in which he accompanied then Gov. George Ryan on a humanitarian mission between the two countries.

Welsh met the greatest basketball player ever while covering the Chicago Bulls' six championships, and he says it was just part of the job.

Traveling also is part of his job, taking him, among other places, three weeks in the Philippines as part of the Daily Herald's Suburban Mosaic series in 2005. He says that trip was truly inspiring. It brought light to world problems and a strong connection between families in the suburbs and their relatives back in the Philippines.

The variety, the spontaneity and the unpredictable nature of this business are what Mark likes about the job and all its offerings. He says the work on some days is like racing a car zero to sixty and on others, like driving a horse and carriage - "but that's rare."

During his tenure as a photojournalist, Mark has accumulated a variety of awards but his favorite is the first place award given by the Pro Football Hall of Fame which for sports action. The picture now hangs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Mark lives in Palatine, but his heart belongs to Maui, where he plans one day to hang up his camera for a surfboard and ride off into the sunset, so someone else with a camera can take his picture on an awesome wave.