About 60 flashes, that is….
Yesterday, in San Diego. Great crowd, lotsa fun. All flashes run off TTL commander. Wireless command, 3 groups, all manual! None TTL! (Please don’t tell Hobby…..)
More tk….
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The ever striking muse @nwilmshurstx locks onto the camera. Classic beauty combo of an overhead light with a low fill. No background light, as she is only about eight feet in front of one of the @manfrottoimaginemore collapsible backdrops, which are super handy when using someone’s living room as a location - which is the case here! Over-under light, and add a lovely subject! Natalie is currently a highlighted performer at the @royalpalacekirrwiller in Kirrwiller, France. Looks like a spectacular show!
#saturdaymorning #picoftheday #portraitphotography #nikonambassador #nikonpro #nikond850
One small light through a window! A Speedlight, as a matter fact. Remember those? Handy, versatile, and highly evolved. The one flash is gelled CTO and placed out in the parking lot. I actually triggered it line of sight, so this pic is definitely from the old school of technology. Wonderful model, carefully placed so the striped highlights through the blinds hit across her eyes. Rest of the photo is just available pool hall light, with some assistance from a smoke machine. Shot with the Nikon D3X, which was a heckuva good camera, and aperture priority with underexposure dialed into the camera. The flash has no diffusion and is zoomed tight to retain the edge and hardness of the light. So much fun to play with light at a location like this!
#throwbackthursday #thursdayvibes #thursdaythoughts #portraitphotography #picoftheday #nikonambassador #nikonpro #nikond3x
The Labor Day Weekend symbolizes the end of the summer, and our yearly, necessary, honorable celebration of work. On this Labor Day, I remember going underground with some of the hardest working folks I’ve ever been privileged to point a lens at—the legendary NY Sandhogs. I’ve always been compelled to photograph labor. Work. Always been curious about how things are built, or the intricacies of major industry. Hence my propensity over time to climb things, or go under the ground with my cameras. The camera stands in service to hard work and knowledge, and I’ve loved the times I’ve been allowed behind the scenes—in a mine, in an operating theater, in tunnels, or massive manufacturing plants. Sweat and striving. The drama of heavy industry.
The camera honors and defines the nobility of work be it backbreaking labor accompanied by the din of heavy machinery, or delicate, intuitive, tension-laden moves of a scalpel inside the chest of a patient. Work compels us, support us, frustrates us, rewards us, defines us. For many, the job becomes almost inseparable from the person.
So it is with the Sandhogs you see here. They build astonishing structures far below the earth’s surface which flow water into New York. Without their work, the city couldn’t exist. It was a story I responded to, and remember on this day.
#Laborday #photojournalism #NYC #storytelling
Wide open sharpness intensifies the eyes. Once again, an over/under style of light not only suits the lovely face of Cassie, a beautiful Hawaiian dancer I have worked with, it illuminates the eyes. The under component is essential, given the floral decorations in her hair. That is provided by the Westcott Eyelighter 3, with a Profoto overhead umbrella with a diffuser. All overhead light would produce shadowing. But this lighting twosome and her resolute beauty looking at the camera demands the attention of the viewer. It’s like that old game we played as kids, “Made you look!” This style of light does make you look. Nikkor 85mm lens wide open at
f/1.8. Compact lens, handy to carry and crazy sharp.
#saturdaymorning #hawaii #portraitphotography #picoftheday #beauty #nikonpro #nikonambassador #nikonz7 @nikonusa
The startling beautiful Monteece locks eyes with the camera. A veteran Vegas performer, she has an amazing array of skills, from gymnastics to dance, to acting. I’ve always found inspiration amongst the group of performers and friends I’ve worked with over the years in Vegas. The physical grace and strength demanded of them to be in these shows nightly is extraordinary, as is the discipline. Shot with over/under lighting and the square format on the Nikon Z 7. One of the primary benefits (for me) of all the accelerated mirrorless technology is the ease of use of square format. Don’t forget to experiment with different formats! I find the square connects to a historical continuum of portrait tradition, and has a formalism to it. (Also, you don’t have to turn the camera for a vertical😉) And our talent’s gesture inhabits this particular square wonderfully. Production excellence from the one and only Lynn DelMastro and gorgeous styling by Sam Brown.
#wednesdaywisdom #picoftheday #portraitphotography #nikonambassador #nikonpro #nikonz7
@monteecetaylor - talent
@northorchard - production
@samanthabrownstyle - styling
@nikonusa
Hard light, amazing eyes. And transformative HMU by @clairepiao. The wondrous @dlimathais graces the lens with a look that holds attention. Available hard light, working outside on a deck in Los Angeles, with my dear friend @bertonevisuals - who has a marvelous studio area.
Camera rig is the Nikon Z 7, partnered with the astonishing optic, the NIKKOR Z 58mm F/0.95 S, wide open at .95. Fastest lens I’ve ever used. Sharpness is unreal, and DOF falls off a cliff. Perfect for a hard light look!
#saturdaymorning #picoftheday fashionphotography #nikonambassador #nikonpro @nikonusa #nikonz7
World Photography Day is described as a day for “photographers to share their world with the world.” In short, to witness, which is what we do. The beautiful necessity of being a photographer is that you have to go. You have to go and see. Many writers and reporters, nowadays especially, do a lot of their work on the phone, or the internet.
But photographers have to go there, camera in hand, and see for ourselves. And then once observed and recorded, share it with the world. A slice of time, as innocuously lovely as a sunset, or a family gathering, as momentous as an earthquake or an Olympics, or as deadly and forbidding as a war zone. It can be a fanciful bit of our imagination, or as steely and shrill as a political protest.
We witness. The compulsion to document the world around us is as compelling and necessary to photographers as breathing. I did a lot of work for LIFE, and the motto of the magazine rings true to this day, even though the publication is no longer. “To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, to draw closer, to find each other, and to feel, that is the purpose of life.”
The sound of the shutter is still thrilling to me. Still a sense of wonder at the camera. Seventy countries and counting. Sharing this roll call of pictures, in association with the @monroegallery, with whom I have a strong relationship nearly twenty years long. They are astounding folks, shepherding historically important imagery to be shared, to be seen, and thus to move those who do see it. They understand clearly the overarching value of important photography.
Pictures are our history, our memory, our sense of ourselves.
#worldphotographyday @monroegallery #photography
Beautiful light on the river! Sometimes, the sun is with you, and the colors of the scene mesh in ways you hope for, but never completely expect. (I mean being a photog, you have to always assume disaster and rain clouds are in your immediate future.😀) But here, on the Schuylkill River near Philly, color, light and gesture came together. Great assignment! Long lens, hold steady from a chase boat.
#saturdaymorning #summertime #sunsetphotography #picoftheday #NikonAmbassador #Nikonpro #NikonD4S @nikonusa
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A blog for Labor Day. https://joemcnally.com/2024/09/02/long-ago-under-the-ground/
Labor Day bargain...gorgeous prints at 15% off. @Printique_lab does an amazing job, and shipping finished products is virtually immediate.
Leave for Poland tomorrow, Tuesday. Gonna be a great festival in the wonderful city of Gdansk. https://www.cyfrowe.pl/kursy-i-szkolenia,1,182,1629.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=swiatlosila_earlybirds_08_2024
Good stuff and a dream come true. @MarkKrajnak covers The Boss & his images are informed by his long history of covering the Jersey Shore, Asbury Park music scene, which is rich in talent and history. Wonderful coverage, & the writing accompanying the photos is laced with emotion
Land of the Giants - A Documentary https://wp.me/p6YJx-hJ1 come and spend a week while the grasses are short and it's safe to be with the Kodiak Brown Bear, a window into their story of survival and life. @BedfordCamera @NikonUSA #NikonAmbassador #NikonPro @KelbyOne
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WOW, this is a great shot. Looks like you guys are having fun! Wish I was there.
-Ingrid
Great photo. What camera did you shot this with?
Mr. M that is super sweet! WB everybody blue and then used a strobe gelled warm to light her face ? amazing work. we’re throwing a big strobist meet up like chase did in Seattle first weekend of May. Would love for you to come down
Looking forward to attending the show in Houston. I guess I’ll bring my SBs with me in case you do something like this there.
What fun this was! Knew kind of what to expect from following you both for so long, but it was better than I even imagined. Learned a ton and laughed alot. Great job by you both and your entire crew.
That looks like a lot of fun! And so simple! Providing you have a plethora of photographers with strobes!
“Would you say I have a plethora, Jefe?”
EXIF:
Camera Maker: NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model: NIKON D3S
Image Date: 2011-03-17 18:57:11 (no TZ)
Focal Length: 15.0mm (35mm equivalent: 15mm)
Aperture: f/6.3
Exposure Time: 0.013 s (1/80)
ISO equiv: 200
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Manual
Light Source: Incandescent
Flash Fired: Yes (Auto, return light detected)
Orientation: Normal
Color Space: sRGB
GPS Coordinate: undefined, undefined
Photographer: (C) JOE MCNALLY
Copyright: (C) JOE MCNALLY
Guess we should all be bribing our SBs!!!
Live in rooms full of light ~ Cornelius Celsus
On a different note, those 60 some puppies (and some gears in our camera bag we love) are brainchild of some hardworking people in Japan recently devastated by 9 richter scale earthquake and the aftermath tsunami. As we speak, many homeless are struggling with cold snowy climate in the open and potential nuclear meltdown.
Thoughts and prayers to those who’s provided us with gears that keep us having fun.
Stay safe on the road, Joe. Best.
where is the photo with the 44 flash from LA? 😉
That’s a lot more than what I did with my three SB-800s and my two SB-900s 🙂
Nikon ROCKS!!!! Yes!
My favorite quote of the day surrounding this picture. “uh yea the walls are blue because I made them that way” Ha ha
oh sure, we in LA were just a little 40-light warm-up for what was yet to come. bet it will be like, I mean, cuz, totally 200 by the time you hit New York, for real!!
a 60 flash setup for a real great shot. That’s insane and really awesome.
Do I hear Gunnis World Record?? Most strobes used to light a photograph??
Is that Meathead in the front row?
Cool! I was hoping you’d post this, and not just because I can now say I’m on your blog (yes, I’m the guy sitting to the right who looks like his eyes are half-closed – which they were :P).
Loads of flashes but I like the shot from the other day alot better – feels more reel.
thank you for phoenix yesterday! it was incredibly enlightening….the only time i ever used a flash was about a year ago…i was walking around and it fell off my camera! i hardly know how to adjust the thing…so now im anxious to try everything i learned – thank you so so much!
Thanks for posting this shot, Joe. It was one of many shots you did in San Diego on the Flash Bus Tour that blew me away. I have to admit that I still don’t understand how you get such amazing color and light SOOC, but I had a great time. You and David both did a fantastic workshop.
I shoot with a Canon though, can I ever get this good of a shot ;-}
I remember we did about 40 in the workshop I did, what is the maximum number of flashes a commander can fire?
Kyle
I don’t recall anyone doing anything manual in the afternoon. Of course, Hobby was out for pizza, so there’s no telling what we did without adult supervision…
Crazy stuff! Really cool with the paparazzi-feeling in both this and the previous post.
I can’t wait for St. Louis!!!!
Im only counting 30 flashes, where is the rest?!
Very Nice Joe!
Woohoo! Had so much fun with Flash Bus in San Diego! Loved this shot and also the one where you shot Justine Bieber with a shoot through umbrella…wait, that was Justine Bieber, right?
I tried this type of shot over the weekend with Canon flashes. Got some succesful shots but with much fewer flashes.
<3 it… <3 it… <3 it… PHOTOBOMB (red sweater on st. paddy's day)!!!
“Only” 44 flashes in Los Angeles… I guess maybe there were too many Canon shooters in the crowd. It was a great learning experience. You and David are both brilliant.
I caught you two in Salt Lake Sunday. Sunday? Didn’t you know you were losing all the momarazzi’s? Probably just as well. Sorry happy hour was voted out of existence here last week. Other than the great inspiration my observation is that Joe is actually William C. Macey.
What a fun shot!!!!
Joe
Just finished SLC with you and David – thank you! So great to see the creativity flow and problem-solving done on the fly – all with a calm demeanor!
Gerry
Lovin’ it! 🙂
Gosh, just when I was really excited that I splurged for 2 more Speedlights so I now have a set of 3 to use wireless! Gonna make it more than 60 in Denver & mine will be one of them….
Joe,
Enough with the Paparazzi shots. You are much more talented than that. This makes 3 David Hobbie SU-4/TTL “Paparazzi” type shots. OK – they look cool, but give us some good stuff. Drew – start posting the educational, creative, and advanced stuff.
I don’t meant to kick you in the nuts, but I hope you guys can teach some advanced stuff on this tour. If not, I will be sorely disappointed.
Bump it up a notch!!!
Thank you
TO
Have to bring my flashes to Boston! Looks like a lot of fun.
Joe, are your classes at PSW going to be similar to the FB tour class? Just trying to plan my class schedule for Orlando!
–John
60! I like the idea, and I really like the picture.
(and I won’t tell Hobby ;))
Joe-
Attended FTB in San Jose. Needless to say, I got to see you two get pinched a little bit, and bounce back in spades. I just wanted to thank you for opening up that cranium of yours, and allowing years and years of knowledge to be available to the masses. It’s really a pretty amazing time, as far as the availability of information goes, and you and David have really done wonders for many in the photography community. I look to your work for inspiration, new ideas, and the need to constantly improve. OK, ass-kissing is done.
I am regretful of one thing about the FTB – that I didn’t stand up in the aisle and start dueling you with one liners from the Princess Bride. But you know… I only doggy paddle.
Cheers!
Todd
Cali is getting better looking as the tour progresses. 😉
As Darth Vader would say: impressive. Most impressive.
Great shot Joe!
Everyone owning a flash, please raise your hand! Anyone owning 2 ? All on channel 2 please, thanks!
CLICK!!!