Field notes: How one Monitor photographer focuses on the big picture

On a police ride-along, a photographer has to get creative to illustrate the scene while protecting the privacy of the people seen through her viewfinder. The result is all the more interesting.

Monitor photographer Riley Robinson wasn't sure what to expect when she arrived at police headquarters in Dallas with reporting partner Henry Gass.

The police perspective was important to their story on violence prevention efforts featured on the cover of the May 13 issue of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly magazine. But law enforcement is notoriously guarded about press access, particularly when it comes to photography. So Riley was concerned that she might not get what she needed to accompany the story.

It wasn't until an officer handed Riley and Henry waivers to sign that it became clear they were going out in the field on what’s known as a ride-along.

Soon, she and Henry were in an unmarked police car watching a stakeout unfold into an arrest. Henry, the Monitor’s justice reporter and Texas bureau chief, describes the scene in detail.

"I couldn’t tell you nearly as much detail as Henry does," Riley says. "When I’m out there ... mostly everything becomes line and color."

This is true for any photo shoot. To get the rich imagery that illuminates our pages, a photographer must hyperfocus on the viewfinder. But this story presented a new level of technical challenge.

"I knew there were a lot of security and privacy concerns," says Riley. "I didn’t want to emphasize the faces of whoever was being arrested, for example."

Then, about halfway through the ride-along, a message arrived from the Police Department’s communications office.

"Oh, by the way," Riley says, paraphrasing the message, "all the officers who are not in full uniform – they're in street clothes, with a bulletproof vest over them – they have similar privacy concerns to cops working undercover. Don’t show the faces of those officers, either."

Reluctant to artificially blur anything during the processing of images, she had to get creative.

"I'm trying to use depth of field, use other parts of the scenery, use parts of the car to try and follow as much of this in the moment as I can," she explains.

In the end, she managed to pull off a layered cover shot that illustrates the scene without showing any faces except for the watchful eyes of Maj. Jason Scoggins framed in the rearview mirror.

This image, and the story behind it, captivated the editors working on this issue. It's just one perspective that Riley's photography brings to our cover story. Find the full story.