Just got back from the Discovery Centre in Winchester where the good folks of the Winchester Photographic Society hosted a talk by the great Joe McNally.
It was a inspirational evening with a person who truly deserves all of the accolades that have been heaped upon him.
Joe is a warm and honest man, a seasoned photojournalist, now self created editorial and portraitist and it must be said very interesting and humerous.
He took us through his early work as a Life Magazine staffer, Sports Illustrated shooter more interested in the crowd than what is on the field and National Geographic go-to photographer called upon when they had a problem to solve, and up to the present day with his last shoot which was barely out of the camera.
If there is a person who defines the term “self-deprecating” then Joe is it. He started his talk by telling us he had taken many bad photos and a some Ok ones and would be showing us a few.
All of his pictures had interesting stories attached and boy did he present us with a huge collection of amazing images from his career so far. The lighting, colour, composition and clarity of the shots were of course faultless but what elevates Joe to a higher level is his sheer creativity and ingenuousness to make the extraordinary to convey excitement, emotion, humour … the wow factor.
Most images were on the screen for a few fleeting seconds accompanied by the stories behind the shot, mainly about the people shown and Joe’s connection to them.
You definitely understood that his relationship to the people being photographed was more important than the technicals behind the shots. He did however provide us with many nuggets of information on lighting setups and lens choices for many of the pictures.
The two hours flew past and unfortunately it was time to leave.
I would like to thank Joe for … well being Joe, and thank the members of Winchester Photographic Society for their hosting of this wonderful event.
I said to the President of the club as I was leaving that I would be looking out for future events that they are organising to attend … and I will.
I did take my camera but aside from the iphone shot I grabbed at the beginning of this post completely forgot to take any more shots.