Famous+Photographer+Assignment

1. Joe McNally was born in Montclair, New Jersey to an Irish Catholic family of five. He originally wanted a journalism degree, but after taking a photojournalism class at Syracuse University, he decided to major in it and received a bachelors and masters degree from the SI Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse. His first major photo during his college days was of a marching band member who randomly pulled his pants down during a football game, which ran in a number of newspapers. After his degrees, he went to New York City to try and make it in the big city, but ended up working as a copy boy for the New York Daily News. He bluffed his way into shooting a World Series game by telling his editor that he had plenty of experience shooting baseball while in college, when he really had no experience at all. After that, his next major assignment was working for National Geographic as a freelancer, shooting many of the non-nature related assignments, such as a study on the human eye that kept him away for a year. This meant no income from more lucrative editorial assignments (that was a factor in the failure of his first marriage to Michelle McNally, currently the photo editor at the New York Times). That marriage produced two daughters, Claire and Caitlin. He is currently married to Anne Cahill, a Nikon representative.   He was the last staff photographer at LIFE magazine, and was laid off in 1998 due to budget constraints. During his tenure, he shot a highly publicized series of nudes depicting Olympic athletes, as well as a story on the Bolshoi Ballet. He also shot Faces of Ground Zero, a series of photos shot just after 9/11 with the world’s only giant Polaroid camera. The room-sized camera obscura shot 9 foot tall images, and they were toured around the country raising over 2 million dollars for victims of the attack.

 He shot the first all-digital story for the National Geographic, The Power of Flight, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brother’s first flight. Shot with a six megapixel Nikon D1x, it was one of the best selling issues of the Geographic, and helped cement the importance of digital in the photojournalism industry. His other work with the Geographic includes a study on the human brain, and more recently, a look at America’s power grid. Having just finished The Flash Bus tour with David Hobby, in which he taught TTL-based small-flash photography all across America, he is now shooting another class with Kelby Training, an online instruction website.

 2. Influences on McNally include Alfred Eisenstaedt, Gordon Parks, Gjon Milli, John Loengard, Leonard McCombe and W. Eugene Smith, the photojournalists of the 1950’s era. Nowadays, he doesn’t quite shoot in that style as much given the amount of teaching/editorial work he does, but if he’s called for a Geographic assignment, that’s how he shoots.

 3. McNally shoots in the photojournalistic style, as that is his background. However, he is routinely described as a generalist, meaning that he can adapt to the situations he is presented with. He readily admits he is not a sports or nature photographer, and usually works with small Nikon speedlights using TTL to accomplish much of his work. He has been experimenting with flash much of his life, having began working with large potato masher-style flashes on a story about circus performers in the 1970’s. For his magazine work, it is all photojournalism.

 Portfolio review  1. Rooftop Ballerina was shot in 1997 by Joe McNally. The subject is Nadia Grachevo of the Bolshoi Ballet. The picture uses balance, there is a clear separation of foreground and background, and the use of color is also unique. The top and bottom of the photograph is a wash of grey, while the centre stands out with the inclusion of flesh tones, pink, and the colors of the Saint Basil’s Cathedral in the background. Joe had to jump through many hoops to get the photo taken, as the Russian government was concerned that a telephoto lens could compromise security given the proximity to the shooting location and the Kremlin’s potentially open windows.  2. This photo comes from The Future of Flying, the first all digital story for the National Geographic. This X-47A Pegasus is lit with several Nikon speedlights hidden within the air intakes of the UAV and triggered optically from a master flash on the camera. Speedlights are a key part of McNally’s work, and especially since the proliferation of Nikon’s Creative Lighting System. The photo uses balance and color, especially in the sunrise.  3. This picture of the shortstop Ozzie Smith took much experimentation to get right, and also had to be redone after Joe noticed a truck in one of the mirrors. Done on slide film, the intense colors and repetition as well as the creative use of mirrors to see a 360-degree view of Ozzie at the same time make it a very memorable frame. Joe is much more well known for his color work than his black and white work.  4. This photo of Michelle Yeoh was shot by Joe for National Geographic in the mid-90’s, while he was harnessed to a helicopter. Joe thought of the idea on a whim as he was shooting a story about Asian actors in Hollywood. Michelle’s representatives shot down the idea, but Michelle herself agreed (as one of the very few uninsurable actors working today) and soon they were flying over Los Angeles. What is interesting about this photo is the perspective and the inventiveness of the concept. The wideangle distortion combined with the huge Hollywood sign and a flying actress is something that is rarely seen, and although clearly staged, illustrates the story he was trying to tell perfectly. Michelle’s silver dress contrasts nicely with the desert surroundings, and the two main subjects are on either side of the frame, keeping your eye bouncing between the two subjects.  5. This photo was shot atop the Empire State Building for another Nat Geo story called “The Power of Light”. He wanted to find the highest lightbulb in New York City, and found it there. The shoot was strenuous and difficult, as several attempts were fruitless because of inclement weather. The TV antenna needed to be shut off for several hours as the radiation from the antenna would have killed Joe and the crew. This also meant shooting in the wee hours of the morning. The cold, rain, and considerable height were all working against the photographer. By the end, a picture was made on the last day of the shoot. The super-wide lens took in as much of the city as possible, and the red beacon provided a nice contrast in color to the deep blue of the background.