Bird Blind and one way glass

Bence Mate "The Invisible Wildlife Photographer" has had phenomenal photography success with his blinds and he has been Wildlife Photographer of the year several times. Check out his website and his stunning book. His blinds use one way glass that is reflective from the outside but he can photograph through the glass. I am trying to emulate his blinds but I cant find the glass..does anybody know where such glass can be obtained?

Mate photos:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthpicturegalleries/9285156/Bence-Mate-the-invisible-wildlife-photographer.html

Very tough to get good images thru glass, especially reflective-coated glass. Certainly expensive to construct, and not very portable. Why not just a normal blind with netting across the front and flaps for lenses?

Sandy

Look at his photos Sandy particularly those in his book ...they are something else. He looses 2 stops but has no problem with reflection using this type of glass and none of the disturbance you can get with portable blinds. Yes these are permanent blinds but are set up in great locations where there must be no disturbance. I want to construct a couple and see what we can get.

Charlie ...thank you very much ..very helpful

I have made these blinds a number of times over the past 35 years and have never had problems getting the glass at the various local glass stores in the different places that I have lived. It is basically ordinary mirrorred glass minus the paint coating. The directionality of the "one way" is purely an effect of which side of the mirrored glass has the predominant illumination. If both sides are equally illuminated, the glass is "two way." As a blind, your side will have to be in the dark. The birds will then see the glass as a mirror, with all the attendant problems of a mirror. For example, the birds can see their own reflection in the mirror and terroritorial birds may waste their day banging their bills against the mirror trying to attack the "intruder." Mounting the mirror at an angle to the bird location can reduce this, but complicates photo taking.

Along the lines of Sandy's suggestion of netting with flaps, many auto-supply stores, including the auto section of Walmart, sell
blinds for car windows that are "one way." The blinds are plasticized cloth with many small holes punched in the cloth. One side of the cloth is white; the other side is black. The white side faces out. This works well with cars. On a sunny day, with a shady car interior, people and animals cannot easily see through the white side, but you can easily see through the dark side. I hang a dark cloth behind me to increase the darkness on my side. You will need to cut a flap in the cloth for your lens, or put your lens through the opening between two shades. Most of these owl shots were taken this way:
http://cubit.smugmug.com/Nature/Burrowing-Owls-Athene/7954275_ptbKzF
John Cubit

John - very helpful comments - thank you very much. I love the burrowing owls! I have never had an opportunity to photograph them and I love the way you are at eye level. I see you are also a Yellowstone fan - I enjoy going there also:
http://www.peterhudsonphotos.com/NorthAmericanWildlife/Yellowstone/15808745_CHcqht#!i=1185241261&k=xZo7o

Thanks again John
Peter

Peter--- Glad you liked the shots of the burrowing owls. Their preference for elevated mounds of earth is a boon to the photographer wanting to get eye-level shots.

Your photos in Yellowstone are fantastic, especially the shots of wildlife in the snow, which are phenomenal. I have only been there once, and it was a rushed trip in the spring that I had to cut short. I'll try again in the fall. You mention getting to be there alone. What an opportunity! I was there in the supposedly sparsely visited early season, but it was a madhouse of tourists and photographers desperate to get their "trophy" photos--and scaring away most of the animals in the process. Only the bison and tame elk at Mammoth seemed not to care about the screaming crowds, slamming car doors, and honking horns. "Honey!!! Where's my camera???!!!!" Bam! Bam! Bam! as people slam shut their car doors and trunk lids. And then lock their cars with the "honk-honk" verification. And they run up to the animals with their cellphone camera or 55mm lens, trying to get a close shot, yelling. "Hey Suzie, stand closer to the buffalo so I can get a good pic!!" I'm used to photographing in peaceful nature, nothing like the Disneyland zoo like Yellowstone.

I only got the pronghorn shots because I found a place outside the park with no people but me. After I stayed still in my vehicle for a few minutes, the pronghorn treated me as though I were either not there, or I was some kind of curiosity. That never happened in the Park.
---John

I photograph through the windows of my house regularly. All the windows are double and I do have problems sometimes but not when photographing straight out through the glass.