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"Joe McNally's book"Workshop at the Ranch
I'm probably not truly qualified to write a
critique about a book. I am just a photographer who is continually
looking to improve my skills and learn as much as I can. While
Joe easily handles the category of teacher he also provides
the reader with much more that just information. His conversational
style of writing allows us to get to know him and once you know
him it is easy to understand why he is simply the best ... as
a photographer, as a teacher, as a person, and as a friend.
I feel I am speaking for all of us who pick this book up and
enjoy it, ... Thanks Joe.
Past Workshop at the Ranch IssuesJune, 2009
May, 2009
April, 2009
March, 2009
February, 2009
January, 2009
November, 2008
October, 2008
September, 2008
August, 2008
July, 2008 |
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#2 Just Joe ... As an
American photographer and long time photojournalist,
Joe's list of newspaper involvements, magazine employments,
clients and photographic achievements would consume
several months worth of Workshop at the Ranch articles.
The man has done it all with style, grace, professionalism
and a sense of humor. During the mid 1990s Joe worked
as Life Magazines only staff photographer, but, his
career highlights are long and prestigious and include
countless assignments with Sports Illustrated, National
Geographic, Time, and Newsweek. His most well known
series of images might be Faces of Ground Zero - Portraits
of the Heroes of September 11th. These life size Polaroid
portraits made there way as an exhibit to seven cities
along with Life's book of Joe's 9/11 portraits that
has raised over $2 million for the 9/11 relief effort.
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#3 Breaking Barriers ...
Throughout the writings in this book, one can't ignore
Joe's encouragement to photographers to not place limits
on their work or themselves. Joe physically prepared himself
to Fly with the Blue Angels and in other jet aircraft
in an effort to provide the best coverage possible for
National Geographic's "The Future of Flying"
article that included the cover and 32 page story, but,
more down to earth are his accounts of everyday photographic
situations that we all encounter while trying to make
pictures .... and Joe has solutions. He offers page after
page of descriptive real life antic dotes in an effort
to teach us how we might also triumph in similar situations.
Joe's lessons are made clear with text and picture, ...
make every situation your finest hour.
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#4 A Variety Package Like
No Other ... From news/photojournalism to sports coverage
to portraits and large scale location lighting assignments
Joe covers the spectrum with his photographic work over
the last 30 years in this book. A wide variety of pictures,
places and people that consume 256 pages of photographic
information and history. 
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#6 This Book I Can Read ...
Reading in general is difficult for me, ... always has been.
I'm a visual kind of person and I think most photographers
are, otherwise we would be writers. This book is an easy
read which is not to say it is simple. It is articulate
in its approach, concise in its structure and personal in
its delivery, as if Joe and you were having lunch together
and started talking about photography. This page contained
the most text of any one page I found in the book. I usually
fell short in school when it came to reading comprehension,
but this book is perfect for me. I can pick it up and read
a page or two and easily understand what Joe is talking
about.
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#7 "How To Get This
Type of Shot" ... Joe offers several stories of photo
assignments where unforeseen complications would arise
and then like Houdini, he escapes with the best picture
of the day. Many, many pictures in this book have a small
box of text adjacent entitled "How To Get This Type
of Shot" (highlighted in yellow.) These tiny boxes
are packed with valuable information regarding how the
picture was accomplished. It's my favorite feature of
the books format. 
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#8 You Can Take it With
You ... This is a book I will most likely take with me on
the job. As a freelancer for 28 years my creative thinking
process sometimes needs a kick start. I foresee The Moment
It Clicks playing a valuable role in my business. Its countless
writings and pictures of such creativity will certainly
be an inspiration to me and just the kick we all could use
to help us get out of our comfort zone and try something
new.
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#9 That Hollywood Glamour
... This portrait of Michelle Pfeiffer that Joe made while
photographing her on location in the Smithsonian is one
of my favorites. As with almost every picture in the book,
Joe offers the how and why that was his thought process
before the moment he clicked the first frame. 
