When photographing the State Capitols, I always try to capture images of the House of Representatives and Senate chambers. While in the chambers, I usually take the conventional symmetrical shot of the room from the center aisle.

During my visit to the Massachusetts State House, I was pleased to see that the chambers were open and lit. It's more difficult to capture those images when the chambers are locked and accessible only through the guided tour. Better yet, I was the only one in the chamber. In fact, I was probably the only visitor in the entire building at that time.

So, I set my tripod up and took the following image for starters:

Senate chamberSenate chamber in the Massachusetts State House at 24 Beacon Street in Boston, Massachusetts on July 27, 2015 I like the image, but it's taken from the side as you can see by the position of the podium on the right side of the frame. In most of the capitols, I end up temporarily moving certain obstacles such as ropes, stands and signs from the scene. I always put them back in place after the picture is taken.

In this Senate chamber, there was a security guard standing to my right. At first, he warned me about the tripod. He pointed out that someone might trip over one of the tripod legs. I replied that I shoot with a tripod all the time and that I would immediately move the tripod if anyone entered the chamber.

After I captured a few images from the side, I tried moving to the back center of the room to get the more conventional perspective. The problem was that I couldn't quite get positioned there. There was a rope hanging between two temporary stands about three feet from where I needed to be.

In nearly every capitol that I visit, I simply unhook the rope, move into position to get the shot, and then hook the rope back into position. Since the security guard was in the room with me, I thought it would be good to ask. So, I asked him if it would be possible for me to move over three feet for a few seconds to grab that one picture. He said that messing with the rope would not be possible. And that was the end of the story! It's always a little frustrating when things like this happen after driving 1,100 miles to get to a site.