So I was taking this picture at the recent firefighter memorial service here in Shelby. On the way to my car, Chief Carter of the Shelby PD asked me about the issue of whether shooting through glass spoiled clarity. We didn�t have time to chat long, but here�s what was going through my head for this shot�.

When I got to the scene one of the first things I noticed was the way the room was set up. Inside the bays of the firestation, there were three aisles to the front, where things would be happening and where I�d need to get to for good shots. And I�d want to be able to move around some to get different shots.

But the aisle on one side was blocked by chairs. If I started at the front there I�d be stranded, not wanting to walk in front of people during the event to get out. And I wouldn�t want to move up the center - I try not to be visually obtrusive during such a ceremony. I wear soft-soled shoes and try to stalk quietly.

That left one aisle inside the building. Donna from TV33 was there, but I could work around her.

But before the ceremony started I�d noticed that outside the bay was a really interesting shot. Seeing on the schedule that Delane Davis, first fire marshal of Cleveland County, would be ringing the memorial bell, I saw where I could get him, the bell the interior of the bay, reflections of sky, trees, and a fire truck, and see straight on through the bay to some more emergency vehicles - an overall shot of the scene that would also be very artistic (photojournalists eat this fancy stuff up).

But for this shot to make sense it would have to run in color. So right before the ceremony I wound up on the cell phone with Margarita, my managing editor, to see if this was slated to run in color.

She said it was, but you never come back with just one shot - I needed to get plenty of other art that could run in black and white if the photo got bumped from a color page by breaking news or something. I also don�t return from the office with just creative stuff - in case the person editing it doesn�t go for panning, creative lighting, silhouettes, wild cropping�.

So I made the decision to shoot some from the open aisle - getting plenty of �safeties� that weren�t exactly what I wanted, but would do in a pinch.

Then I moved outside the bay. I could take some standard shots though the glass without showing reflections, but it was tricky.

Have you noticed that at night you can see thru glass into a lighted room easier than you can see out into the darkness? Well it was light outside and dark in the bay. That could make things tricky. But my putting my lens against the window I can create the shadow that allows me to see in.

But when I try to shoot at an angle to the glass, looking at someone at the podium, for example part of the glass I�m shooting thru is in the shadow of the lens and part is receiving light that ruins the shot. That�s where I have to cup my hand around the lens to block out the light. True some of my hand gets in the side of the shot, but that gets cropped out.

To address Chief Carter�s question, the glass I was shooting through was relatively clean, so there wasn�t too great an impact on clarity. And since the quality of paper newspaper use is so crummy, there is room for a degree of imperfection to hide that wouldn�t be possible with some glossy publications.

So now when saw Mr. Davis approaching the bell I squatted (this job involves a lot of squatting) into the position I�d already rehearsed before the ceremony began. I quickly shot off plenty of frames, in case he blinked or something else happened - don�t put all your eggs in one basket.

I also had to make sure that I wasn�t in the reflection. And remember what I was saying about light and dark and reflections? Do you see in the picture how where the trees are reflected you can see Mr. Davis� face? But where the sky is you can�t see the back of his head? I had to choose and frame what would be visible in the bay (under the dark reflection of the trees), or obscured by the light reflection of the sky.

Then to get some more conventional shots of the bell ringing I quickly had to move to get a through the glass shot without the reflection.

Later that day, back at the office, folks liked my creative shot and it showed up in the paper the next day� in color.

And that�s some of what was going through my head at the time. A lot of it�s a thinking game, like diamond sports such as baseball and softball.

But that�s another rant.