The website and blog of Joe McNally
Been traveling like a banshee, but thankfully, back in NYC, where it’s always fun to shoot. Teaching for the National Geographic this weekend, and roaming Manhattan’s canyons with a great group of folks. Above, a morning scene at the Winter Garden in Battery Park City.
And one of the ever present street musicians, up on 5th Ave.
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A photo walk in Gdansk! A truly wonderful and historically important city in Poland. I was invited by the camera store, @cyfrowe_pl, to participate in the ŚwiatłoSiła Photo-Video festival (Festival of Light) which was enormously popular. What a fantastic experience! I enjoy the company of fellow photographers, and the crowds were friendly, passionate and gracious. I posted a shot from our photo walk using nothing but hard light. Folks asked for other shots and techniques from our walk down by the docks with the amazing @_frostmagdalena. Big Thanks to @zieniuphoto and @filipkowalkowski who were terrific hosts, and we all collaborated so well. A blog about the event to come!
#photowalk #światlosiła #cyfrowe_pl #filipkowalkowski #zieniuphoto #portraitphotography #nikonambassador #nikonpro #nikonz9
Just back from Poland and the ŚwiatłoSiła Photo & Video festival organized by the incredible team @cyfrowe_pl.
The event (The Festival of Light) was a terrific, energetic celebration of photography, attended in large numbers. I had three events, and this particular frame is available light in harsh sun during our Photo Walk. Loved the Photo Walk as it took place as a meander through the old, historic docks and cranes of Gdansk. Happy to have had the opportunity to visit Gdansk, still an important port city in Poland and the birthplace of Solidarity, the labor movement that shook all of Eastern Europe and the Communist bloc at that time. Lech Walesa was a dockworker turned union activist who championed the rights of the workers to strike, and changed Poland forever.
Our model @_frostmagdalena was wonderful and easygoing, giving all the photographers nonstop look after look that was captivating and beautiful. Magda made excellent use of posing in the strong sunlight!
#thursdayvibes #thursdaythoughts #cyfrowe_pl #światłosiła
#picoftheday #photowalk #nikonambassador #nikonpro #nikonz9
Again, this day. Always remember.
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
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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So wonderful photos, I’m a great fan of you ! You are one of the best photographer in the world! Many Greetings from Bavaria Manou
NYC is so lucky to have you Joe!!! …. very sweet light on the first image and such an amazing, almost, abstract patterns within this lovely capture. I’m really enjoying this sort of composition as they feel very much like compositions of a traditional painters where there is lots of details and colors.
Wish I was in New York right now, well wish I was anywhere rather then where I am in the UK, but then again I do like New York a really great place to visit and to live, and great people who live there
Love it!
I can see your reflection on the 1st pic 🙂 perhaps a shadow of yours is enough to recognise!
Love those street performers a GREAT WAY TO GIVE AWAY CHANGE FOR A QUICK PICTURE.
Pretty spiffy “reflection” shot. Really appeals to my double-exposure mind. Encourages me to do more of these.
Joe, beautiful, clean work. Wonderful colors, elements and reflections – all captured in the moment.
Sorry about my english.
But your pictures (Not “shots”) are great.
I believe, you know that.
Imagine: You are sitting in your kitchen. It is sunday and nine o’clock. You waiting with fresh brewed coffee for your wife.
During this time to watch nice pictures from a artist so many miles away. Thats great.
I believe that I won’t have the opportunity to visit the USA for The rest of my life. So are your works my window.
Have a nice time!!
Lars Thomsen
Bad Segeberg
Germany
many thanks for the kind words, Manou…I’m hardly that, but I keep plugging away, just like we all have to do with this thing called pictures….
Hey, Joe. It was great to see you at #GPPLondon last weekend. Glad the trip home was ok, and I look forward to seeing you again.
Will you be in Dubai for GPP 2014?
Inspirational Joe, a true visionary. Many thanks for sharing.
A photo around every turn when in The Big Apple. Always good stuff when you’re roaming the canyons…
~ Mark
I love your shot at the Winter Garden. I too love shooting reflections and making the image work. It’s a great art form. Yeah, keep shooting – We’re all trying to take our best shots!
And here all I along I thought that banshees didn’t get out much, what with haunting graveyards and washing the armor of fallen warriors in nearby fords. Always learnin’ somethin’ new from ya, Lad. You just stay away from those banshees, okay?
I’ve read your 2 books and hope someday to be so good as you are:)
Greetings from Poland,
Marta
amateur&your fan
I am curious about camera, lens and settings of the saxophone shot. Are you able to share them?
TIA
Always amazed at what you create. Was so fortunate to learn from and shoot with you in Las Vegas at your Pre Con.
Seeing you again in Denver this Wednesday. What I am really hoping for is that I might be able to be lucky enough to have my photo taken at your workshop if models are pulled from the audience? If I can use it, would love to submit that for my high school senior picture for the yearbook. Who else can say they had their senior photo done by Joe McNally?
Here’s to hoping, fingers crossed! Thanks for all of your generous teaching. 🙂
Andrew Moline
you’re on Andrew….
Yep, NIkon D4, 28 mm F1.4, at 1.4. That lens is quite old, they don’t make it anymore….but it’s a good one…
yep, will be there in Dubai, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise:-)))
It would certainly mean more than can be put into just words (that’s why photographers put things into pictures, right?) if I manage to snag an opportunity for a photo by you, Joe! Thank you so much — we will see what Wednesday brings. : – )
I think the phrase you’re looking for re: Dubai is one you’ve surely heard a million times in your travels there — insh’allah.
While the circumstances may be, the quality of your photos is never insh’allah though. We always look forward to seeing what you see. It sounds cheesy but there’s no other way to say it concisely so here it is — the world I see every day is a fascinating place seen through Joe McNally’s left eye.
Best of luck on your project!
OK Joe, share!
I’m fairly sure that the image of the coffee drinkers with the buildings in the background took some careful balancing of exposures (not to mention ‘seeing’ the shot in your mind).
Fess up on the details! Although I now live in New Zealand, I did come to one of your seminars in the UK and loved the moment when you went all far-sighted and started ‘foolin’ around’. Keep on inspiring us old age pensioners with aspirations.
Is there any place more surprising to take photos than our fab city? Who’d believe your first shot was actually taken here with those background palm trees. One of the things I love about street performers is one day they’re here, the next day gone, and someone else has popped up in their place. A never ending visual feast.
Hi Stephen….no real dipsey doodles here, in terms of complexity. Fast 28mm lens, and I hid myself as best I could in the dark area around the girder. Light was wonderful, and it simply made for a simple, nice slice of Manhattan life. Best, Joe
Wonderful click sir, The focus, light amazing.
You miss the New York pizza?
wow
woderful photos.
fantastic
so nice photos!!!
I always love the grunge look of street photo. You got some really good captures there, thanks for sharing.