The website and blog of Joe McNally
We always bring a few of these on location, and even when traveling with just a shoulder bag, we’ll use a carabiner, and hook one to the bag. The size is perfect for adding some beauty fill, cutting down light intensity, or blocking unwanted light. We spend most of the time using the silver and diffusion tri-flips.
More about Lastolite TriFlip 8:1 30” Kit
Time flies. Roughly ten years ago, I climbed the Burj Khalifa, the tallest structure in […]
Legend has it that Heinz Kluetmeier donned scuba gear and dove into the Olympic pool […]
Ireland is one of the most welcoming places on earth, not just for a greeting, […]
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
A film shot for #throwbackthursday! Pre-dawn silhouettes out on the range. In West Texas, cowboys assemble for early roundup. Transparency material, wide lens, crouched down on the ground and braced for slow shutter speeds. Love watching the graphics play out in the sunrise light.
#thursdaythoughts #thursdaymood #picoftheday #cowboys #silhouette #sunrisephotography
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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