2. “I’ve done highly technical stories about
science and space. To do that, you need to
have a fair amount of imagination, and then
sometimes that imagination leads you to a
solution. Because what you’re doing is trying
to take a concept or an idea, or some sort of
scientific theorem, something that most
people are not going to have an immediate
understanding about, and translate that into a
photograph that’s going to grab somebody.
You have to imagine yourself in the reader’s
seat. I always view the reader as who I serve. ”
Joe McNally
3. Joe McNally, born in 1952 in New Jersey, is an American
photographer, internationally acclaimed for his work. He
completed his bachelor and graduate degree at Syracuse
University and lives in Ridgefield, Connecticut.
4. After the September 11 attack, McNally
produced a series of photographs
titled Faces of Ground Zero – Portraits
of the Heroes of September 11th.
5. For 20 years, Joe McNally has
contributed to the well-known magazine
National Geographic.
6. Joe McNally is internationally notorious for
producing amazing projects with an appropriate
use of light and color. He has done studio work to
big productions and has shot conceptual images
to aerial photos.
7. On October 1st, 2016, I had the great honor to attend his master class,
which took place in FES Acatlan. First of all, I want to recognize that he is
a genius and a lovely person. During the master class, he made a lot of
jokes about him and his experiences as a profesional photographer.
After that, he started to take a lot of photos using people in the audience
as models.
8. It was the final result of a lot of work
by all in the auditorium, shoots and
attempts. Oscar was born to be a
rockstar, as you can see in this
image.
. My favorite model was Oscar, he was
very friendly, his kindness was natural.
Joe McNally loved Oscar too, he
couldn´t stop laughing because
everything that Oscar did was so funny.
9. There were more models: a couple, an old
man, three women and the fotofestin group,
but I didn´t really love them at all.
10. •Believe in your work, because no one else will
do it.
•Camera loves gray color.
•A real photo has a cautivating story
•How you afront problems is one of the
most important things, because it gets
reflected on your job.
•Imagination is fundamental when you
need a good photography.
•Flashes and colors are your best
friends (when you know how to use
them).
•Every person and every moment requires
a different type of light.
Things I learned from Joe McNally:
11. •When you really love what you do, you
have to take risks….he refers to himself as
a “sick bastard” because in 2009, he
climbed the Empire State, without any
protection, just to take a picture of a
climber of antennas, who was an engineer,
changing the bulb at the top of the Empire
State.
12. “I’m not serving my ego, I’m not serving even the
magazine—I mean, obviously, I am. But at the end of
the day, if you’ve been able to move the reader, the
consumer of your picture, then you’ve done a good
job.”
Joe McNally
