Joe McNally Quotes & Sayings

We make pictures. At the end of the day, we create something potentially significant that did not exist at the beginning of the day. We go forward, despite the uncertainty. Because this is an act of love and passion, which defies reason and prudence. — Joe McNally

Unpredictability. Accidents. Not good when you're engaging in, say, brain surgery, but when lighting ... wonderful! — Joe McNally

If you view your life as a piece of fabric or a tapestry, the photography is the stitching. It keeps everything together. — Joe McNally

I can't tell you how many pictures I've missed, ignored, trampled, or otherwise lost just 'cause I've been so hell bent on getting the shot I think I want. — Joe McNally

A professor I had in college used to tell me that if someone won't listen to what you have to say because you're not wearing a tie, then put on a tie, 'cause what you have to say is more important than not wearing a tie. He was right. — Joe McNally

Our pictures are our footprints. It's the best way to tell people we were here. — Joe McNally

When shooting a story about someone, their hands should always be on your list to shoot. — Joe McNally

Technology has eliminated the basement darkroom and the whole notion of photography as an intense labor of love for obsessives and replaced them with a sense of immediacy and instant gratification. — Joe McNally

The camera's not a camera, really. It's an open door we need to walk through. It's up to us to keep moving our feet. — Joe McNally

No matter how much crap you gotta plow through to stay alive as a photographer, no matter how many bad assignments, bad days, bad clients, snotty subjects, obnoxious handlers, wigged-out art directors, technical disasters, failures of the mind, body, and will, all the shouldas, couldas, and wouldas that befuddle our brains and creep into our dreams, always remember to make room to shoot what you love. It's the only way to keep your heart beating as a photographer. — Joe McNally

Ansel Adams rattled around the Southwest with his battered truck and his view camera, which looked like a giant accordion with a lens attached to it. — Joe McNally

Every once in a while, it pays to listen to those annoying characters who are just waiting to tell you how to do your job. — Joe McNally

Don't pack up your camera until you've left the location. — Joe McNally

Seems Google management figured out it is cheaper, happier and more productive to take care of their employees and create a positive work environment than to burn them to a crisp, make them afraid of the future, and send them off into the highways and byways of California in search of a Taco Bell for lunch. — Joe McNally

Photography used to be not for the faint of heart. Its rigors would weed out the not-so-committed pretty quickly. You had to crank the f-stop ring yourself! — Joe McNally

A career in photography is a journey without a destination. — Joe McNally

John Loengard, the picture editor at Life, always used to tell me, If you want something to look interesting, don't light all of it. — Joe McNally

To me, pictures are about memory. — Joe McNally

I slid down in the seat and began to weep. I wept for her, for me, but mostly because the siren call of my first big story with a yellow border around it was more powerful than the call of fatherhood. — Joe McNally

Digital technology has thrown a closed shop wide open, and there are more people out there snapping away than ever before. Some of the pictures are bad, some of them are good, and many of them need some seasoning and direction. — Joe McNally

Do not be afraid of mistakes. They will be with you always,every time you put a camera to your eye. [If you] shoot safe, and don't at least occasionally court disaster, you are not trying. Time to hang up the camera. — Joe McNally

I've been a big fan always of getting my camera in different places and trying to seek the unusual vantage point. — Joe McNally

If you're not having fun, your pictures will reflect that. — Joe McNally

You've gotta taste the light, like my friend and fellow shooter Chip Maury says. And when you see light like this, trust me, it's like a strawberry sundae with sprinkles. — Joe McNally