Johnsenclan

Book fourteen in 52 books in 52 weeks

Joe McNally is one of my favorite photographers. He’s shot covers for National Geographic, Newsweek, Time and Life Magazine. Though you may not recognize the name, I’m sure you’ve seen some of his photographs. He famously took the world’s largest polaroid camera to Ground Zero and took photographs of many people involved in 9/11(Click on Special Projects). One of my favorites is the picture he took of a lightbulb being changed at the top of the Empire State Building.

The Moment It Clicks is described as a book that shows you how Joe McNally created some of the amazing shot. So I thought I was getting diagrams and lists of equipment used and way I could try to re-create the techniques he used. I was dissapointed to find that it’s nothing like that. The book is great, but I guess my expectations were a little too high.

Instead the book takes a small idea that seems simple, and runs with it. In seminars, McNally is know for throwing things out like “be a pest”, “bring a chainsaw” and ‘put the light in an unusual place”. So he took all these and made them into chapters. He talk about a tree not looking right for a shot, so he made adjustment to it with a chainsaw. Each small story is accompanies by the photo so you can get an idea why something was difficult, and what he had to do to accomplish it.

Some of the stories are pretty amazing, he’ll do almost anything to get a good photograph. Each problem that he’s confronted with is shown, along with the solution that he was eventually able to come up with. Each one involves ways to use light, how to get into difficult position and how to help the person you’re photographing do what you want them to. Some of the solutions are so simple that you would easily be able to add them to photographs you take every day (like hanging a white bedsheet over a window that has sunlight pouring in to create a huge lightbox)

He seems to know how to do everything, it’s very inspirational as someone that’s trying to become a better photographer. So even though the book wasn’t what I was expecting, it’s a great book to learn from and get inspired by.

Rating B+

More of my 52 books in 52 weeks

Other people participating in the 52 week action

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• Heliologue reviews A History of God by Karen Armstrong, Eldest by Christopher Paolini, Saint Francis of Assisi by G.K. Chesterton
• Natasha reviews Elija of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis, Fablehaven by Brandon Mull, and Bee Season by Myla Goldberg