Photographic Inspiration: Joe McNally
Im pretty confident that a decent hand full of you will know of this Outstanding photographer. However I continuously run into conversations with other photogs where Joe’s name gets brought up and I get the equivalent of a blank stare back across our cyber conversation.
Joe McNally has been in the game with over 30 years under his batman-esque belt. Working for big name companies like Nikon, TIME, Fortune, New York Times, Men’s Journal, Sports Illustrated, an extraordinary 23 years with National Geographic, and a list that continues miles down the road. To say Joe know’s his stuff would be grossly understated! When you peruse through Joe’s work its undeniably obvious he is an absolute master of lighting and color, and truly wrote the book on using Small Flashes like the Nikon Speedlight series. With an outstanding personality that matches his extraordinary skill, its no wonder he’s one of the top trainers on sites like KelbyTraining.com .
Joe is also known for his work on raising money (2 million dollars to be exactish) for the relief effort after the tragic happenings of 9/11. He headed up a project called Faces of Ground Zero, using the world’s ONLY LIFE-SIZE Polaroid camera (Literally the size of a 2 stall garage). The project is considered by many to be one of the most important and influential art endeavors to evolve from the 9/11 tragedy.
Joe’s Blog is one I frequent often to get my fix of pure inspiration. At times it’s difficult to not want to set your camera down and call it quits in fear you would never reach his level of talent, knowledge and sheer Bad Assnessness…ness (Thats right I said it). But to paraphrase Joe’s Humble words, 30 years in the trenches will lead to similar awesomeness. So yea.. we’ve got that to look forward too. In the mean time take a cautious look at his work. I say proceed with extreme caution as there is a good chance your mind will either melt or explode… hey Im just sayin, Im looking out for your safety!
I absolutely love Joe’s understanding of light, and its because of him I have started to look at light the way I have in recent months. I’ve watched all his courses on KelbyTraining.com , and anticipate the new courses to come! Be sure to browse through his website, blog, and youtube channel to be inspired at an extremely high level, let alone be schooled on lighting and color!
Visit his Portfolio HERE – remember proceed with the utmost caution 😉
Visit his Blog HERE
And check out his Youtube Channel HERE – Be ready to laugh, he’s a pretty funny dude!
If you wanna catch up on the courses I have been in love with the last few months check out KelbyTraining.com
© Joe McNally
© Joe McNally
© Joe McNally
© Joe McNally
As always leave your thoughts below. Also does anyone else think Joe looks like the the Matt Damon of photography haha… admit it there’s a resemblance 🙂
That first photo is amazing! 🙂
He has great work! A true inspiration!
He is kind of a big deal 🙂 Love his work!
Haha Bashar, your right, he is kind of a big deal 🙂
I too am dabling with light and it makes a world of difference to photos. Joe is a real inspiration.
Absolutely Robert! I highly suggest checking out his training link above, he has really helped me grasp lighting! Thanks
Incredible…I subscribed to his blog….thank you much for sharing:) I strive to learn more and be better with my camera…so much to learn…yet so very exciting and makes me come alive with a creative heart!
Im glad you were inspired Marcy! His blog is fantastic and he does a good job on keeping it up to speed even with his busy schedule. I agree, the idea of so much to learn is exhilarating to say the least 🙂
Stunning shots! He is very, very good! 🙂
Absolutely Sonel! He’s one of my favorite “Mentors”, as I have studied many of his courses.
Fantastic set of images!! Great photographer!!
Absolutely Santi! He’s one of my favorites!
Absolutely love the cowboy portrait.
Isn’t his skill incredible! I agree the Cowboy portrait is amazing!
I follow McNally’s blog religiously! He is a fantastic photographer and just as good a writer! His books are tremendous resources too!
Absolutely Kolman! I love his books as well, and look forward to getting his lighting dvd’s he just released. He’s an outstanding teacher!
The first image is pure magic! Love his work!
Agreed! Thanks Stephen 🙂
All the images are incredible but I love that first image!
Thats actually from his latest course on the kelby training site I listed above. 🙂 Thanks for the comment
Thanks for sharing these..I just love that second image, although they are all fantastic!
Absolutely Jennifer!
Thanks so much for the great post. Mcnally is the man. Seen some of his work in the past and Im glad you reminded me of him.
Your welcome Elliot! Glad you were reminded of one of the greats 🙂
Truly amazing photos.
I agree David! Truly Amazing photographer too 🙂
Loved this post. For some reason, the first link doesn’t seem to be working.
Thanks for letting me know Pavitra! I just fixed the links 🙂
Joe is God 🙂 I was lucky enough to see his ‘workshop’ in London last year, a wonderfully engaging and inspiring teacher as well as a photography genius….
I’ve seen and read many trainings by him but have not been lucky enough to see him in person yet! I look forward to the day, he is a true inspiration! Thanks again for stopping by 🙂
Joe is THE best at lighting. Good call Nick.
Agreed! I’ve been watching his classes on Kelby Training again this weekend now that I have my speelites to play with 🙂 Im thinking I may get his “The Language of Light” series off of his site. Wonderful teacher, and absolutely hilarious 🙂 Thanks again