I know I've mentioned the fact that I'm in grad school, and I'm sure I've bragged where I'm learning all these amazing storytelling/photography skills because it is the top journalism school in the country and it's the first time I've been proud of my school. I applied to Newhouse and only Newhouse. I thought if God wanted me in grad school, he'd get me in, and if not, it wasn't meant to be. I ended up getting in. One of the main reasons I was drawn to this school was the long list of amazing alumni, but none more prominent than Joe McNally. This is a world famous National Geographic photographer who has mastered lighting and has traveled around the world shooting some of the most gorgeous photos my eyes have ever had the glory to see. Google him, you won't be disappointed.
This week, he came to my school to speak and I was lucky enough to be invited to an intimate barbeque where the grad students could meet and chat with Joe. I was fangirling just getting the email. A few days later, the former chair of photography at Newhouse invited us to bring some work and get some advice from Joe. I jumped to bring my little portfolio and get another set of eyes at it.
Professor Mike Davis gets a better view for photos and for listening to Joe McNally speak to the students.
I wasn't disappointed. First of all, Joe talked to us telling stories and answering questions. His quick wit and sass won us all over. He's a smart and thoughtful man. He told us how things were like, we can't expect to be given photo assignments. You have to work and fight for them. At times it almost seemed discouraging, and he even asked us if this was a depressing fact. However, we've always been told photography has to be a passion not a hobby.
Not a lot of people had brought work to show, which ended up being a good thing because Joe had had a long day. I was able to show him my 20 photos. He said I had some good photos but that I needed to dig deeper to get farther into the story. He said, my portfolio is a good group of photos but it didn't move him. This might be disappointing except with the criticism he gave me advice on my final masters project. Seriously, how amazing is that? He sparked my creativity which has been dead the last few weeks.
Photo by professor Deb Pang Davis.
He ended his trip with a lecture hall filled of all kinds of people going through his photographs and telling the stories and all about his trials and tribulations. He made us all laugh, (I might admit to a tear or two when he showed the last photograph he ever took of his mother) and he inspired a ton of people to be tenacious photographers. I am sincerely grateful for his review and inspiration. I felt like I met a hero and he exceeded my expectations of him. I'm sorry this is corny. It's been a rough few months and I'm getting to love my camera again.
I'll end this with a quote I wrote down from him, "I'm a photographer. Sometimes I get it, most times I miss it. We work hard at this. If we miss it, we just have to be comfortable with this."
Oh! And, "available light is the best light.
...and by available light I mean any god damn light that's available."