photograph
November/December 2014
Review
By Douglas Fairfield
Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe
Joe McNaIIy, Yellowstone - Walkway in the Fog, 2006.
©Joe
McNaIIy. Courtesy Monroe Gallery
Being at the right place at the right time is a
photographer's modus operandi, and
photojournalist Joe McNally has had his share of right-place, right-time
moments; moments that have resulted in memorable, if not iconic images. In a
retrospective of the photographer's work - on view at Monroe Gallery of
Photography in Santa Fe through November 23 - more than 45 images stand
testament to McNaIIy's discerning eye, both in formal and candid situations.
Photos in color and black and white dating from 1978 to 2013 feature subjects
of a most eclectic nature not typically associated with one photographer. But
given a 30-year career in which McNaIly has contributed to TIME, Newsweek,
Fortune, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, and LIFE, among
others, it is little wonder that his portfolio runs the gamut in terms of
subject matter. This includes sports, politics, music, science, portraiture,
the natural and urban landscape, and war. lnterestingly, McNaIIy carries the
distinction of being the last staff photographer for LIFE, whose pages, over
the years, were filled with photographs by Alfred Eisenstaedt, John Loengard,
Carl Mydans, Gordon Parks, and W. Eugene Smith.
Among the pictures on display are eight life-size portraits
by McNaIly of individuals impacted by the events of 9/11 taken just days
following the horrific attack. lncluded are former mayor of New York City
Rudolph Giuliani and New York firefighter Joe Hodges, each part of McNally's
larger document called Faces of Ground Zero, which traveled around the country
and spawned a book by the same title. The one-of-kind, 80 x 40-inch Polaroid
photos are mounted on freestanding stanchions placed down the center of the
gallery. Whereas each picture by McNally holds a newsworthy narrative, a few
nudge into fine art, like Yellowstone— Walkway in the Fog, 2006, in which an
unoccupied walkway emerging from the bottom center of the composition curves
gently to the right leading the viewer into an otherworldly environment of
shimmering, copper-colored mineral water and fog-shrouded background. In the
upper left corner is a snow-covered rise where barely visible trees appear like
scratchings upon the photographic surface. History-making events and sheer
beauty are fully captured through McNally's lens.
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