People often comment on how neat it must be to be a photojournalist. And it is. We get into concerts, festivals and sports events free. We sometimes rub shoulders with important and famous people. The recent news that former President Clinton was coming to Lawrence brought to mind two personal incidents with the Clinton family.

During the Clinton presidential campaign in the summer of 1992, Hillary Clinton stopped in Lawrence to speak. While here, she also visited a local candy shop where jars of jellybeans representing each presidential candidate were being used to gauge their popularity. A couple of photographers and I crammed together around the candy jar, jockeying for position to catch the historic moment when Clinton dropped her bean vote into her husband’s jar.

President Bill Clinton and a fan get a party pic taken after a speech by the president at a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Kansas City, Mo.

Afterward, Clinton made her way around the room, graciously shaking hands with everyone, including the media. It was strange to no longer be an observer. It was even more awkward for me that day since I had a bad cold at the time. I always wondered if I gave the future first lady any cooties.

Years later I was covering a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Kansas City where President Clinton was speaking. The only advantage the press had was a tall riser in the middle of the audience, several hundred feet from the stage. Any audience member with a disposable point-and-shoot camera had better access than the working media.

At the conclusion of Clinton’s speech, he walked to the front of the crowd and proceeded to shake hands with everyone along the front barrier. I left my “privileged” riser and moved through the crowd, positioning myself at the barricade so I could frame Clinton shaking hands with the people around me. As Clinton approached and shook hands with the woman next to me, I snapped some photos. The next thing I know he’s shaking hands with me and saying, “Here, get a photo of the two of us.” Well, I wasn’t going to turn down a request from the leader of the free world so I quickly took the photo as instructed, and the president went on down the line.

I think I’ll get the print enlarged and see if I can catch up with Bill when he gets to town.

“Behind the Lens” is an ongoing weekly series that features an image selected by the Journal-World photo staff that previously ran in the newspaper or online. Wondering how a certain picture was created? Nominate it for “Behind the Lens” by contacting chief photographer Mike Yoder at 832-7141 or myoder@ljworld.com.