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Capturing the news | Scene Through the Lens

They also cover news who only stand and watch it happen on TV

November 14, 2022: The Valley Forge Military Academy and College Regimental Band marches in the 8th Annual Philadelphia Veterans Parade on Market Street East last week.
November 14, 2022: The Valley Forge Military Academy and College Regimental Band marches in the 8th Annual Philadelphia Veterans Parade on Market Street East last week.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared via recorded video as he was honored during ceremonies at the National Constitution Center as the 2022 recipient of the Liberty Medal. It was one of the many television screens I photographed over the past couple of weeks. Zelensky was still on the big TV inside the museum after the event, when I looked back and saw his image alongside those of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass and President Lincoln, outside on a sign advertising a current exhibit.

Earlier it was the action of the underdog wild-card Phillies making their improbable appearance in the World Series. They entered the playoffs having won only 87 games and faced the Houston Astros, who finished the regular season with 106 (out of 162)..

I didn’t photograph any of the series games, but there was a remarkable night of my own when I photographed the game on TV in three different bars in three different parts of the city - and captured Phillies fans cheering a different home run in each one.

They also serve who only stand and wait outside the ballpark to illustrate those off-beat feature stories done by the non-sports reporters.

Just before that TV excitement, there was the long-awaited Senate debate between John Fetterman and and Mehmet Oz. It happened in a television studio in Harrisburg, where the host, Nexstar Media, declined to allow photographers access to the event (the Associated Press subsequently declined to accept the station’s handout photos). I photographed it on the two big TV monitors set up in a tent outside the station.

Finally, my adventures photographing news events on large visual output devices culminated with power being cut off to the big TVs that broadcast election results on the basketball court that was turned into a watch party for Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz.

Since 1998, a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:

» SEE MORE: Archived columns and Twenty years of a photo column