Sometimes I see what I think would be an excellent photograph, but cannot access the scene. This often happens when I'm driving along an interstate highway. I see something that has potential to be a great image, but I am not able to safely pull of the highway to capture it. The scene is not readily accessible.

While walking down the streets of Columbus, Indiana I came across a similar situation. There's a long, narrow corridor in an office building--and I really liked how the light was casting shadows along the walls. I love taking pictures of corridors! My problem is that the scene was just out of my reach. I could see it clearly enough through the clear door, but a locked door stood between me and the photograph!

I came up with a plan. I figured that if I waited long enough, an employee might exit the building and leave the door open long enough for me to enter. After about ten minutes, that's exactly what happened.

I'm very good at setting up my tripod quickly. Within 15 seconds, I had the camera secured to my tripod and quickly blasted five bracketed exposures. Within another 10 seconds, I noticed a person entering the frame from the very back of the corridor. I planned to wait until the employee passed through the scene--but as she approached a little closer I noticed that she was a security guard.

Of course, I was asked to leave the building. But, I'm grateful that I had my 30 seconds to capture one of my favorite images from that road trip!

The Shadow CorridorLong, narrow corridor in the Cummins Irwin Office Building at 500 Washington Street in Columbus, Indiana on October 22, 2014