"Being a photojournalist is like being Zelig, or Forrest Gump, or Walter Mitty: You aren’t the important one, but you’re right there with whoever or whatever is," writes photographer Max Aguilera-Hellweg.

This week, we look more closely at this photographer, whose work made our top 100 images of the year, and what Max brings to the field from his life experiences. After a hiatus studying medicine, Max returned to photography, more prepared than ever to tell stories about the human condition. Here is Max’s first-person account:

Then one day my cellphone rang. I was on rounds seeing patients and stepped out to the hall. I didn’t recognize the number, but the area code was Washington, D.C. This call, I thought, must