Joe McNally: Water Polo Boys, (U.S. Water Polo Team, Long Beach, California) 1996
We are pleased and excited to welcome Joe McNally for a very special book signing and exhibition. We will celebrate Friday, December 17, from 5 to 7 PM with a public reception during which Joe will sign copies of his newest book: The LIFE Guide to Digital Photography: Everything You Need To Shoot Like The Pros (256 pages; $29.95). A special selection of Joe's photographs will be on exhibit through January 30, 2011.
Just in time for the holidays, Joe McNally, one of LIFE's master shooters and the most recent in a long line of distinguished LIFE staff photographers, has prepared a fool-proof guide that covers tips of the trade; step-by-step instruction on focusing, lighting and composition; and features photos from his personal portfolio.
In The LIFE Guide to Digital Photography, McNally walks readers carefully through the do's and don'ts of shooting digital and concentrates on five fundamentals: light, the lens, design elements, color, and composition. He offers his expert advice on everything from shooting fireworks and family portraits, to telling a story with texture to choosing color or not — framing all discussions with his own personal experiences as a photographer.
Joe says: “The LIFE Guide is just that–a guide. It can take a newbie right from opening the box containing the new digital picture machine right through composition, light, lenses, and color.
I wrote this book for my alma mater, LIFE magazine. What a long strange trip photography is. I shot my first job for the magazine in 1984, and managed somehow to survive editor changes, shifts in format, style, and even the change of the physical size of the magazine to keep shooting for them right through the nineties. Just about 1995 they asked me to become their first staffer in 23 years, which also meant I became the last staff photographer in the history of the magazine, as it is no longer publishing. As I always point out, being the last in a series of 90 staff shooters at this illustrious picture magazine probably means that someone writing the history of this field will probably associate my name with the death of photojournalism :-)" --Joe McNally
Joe McNally: Rooftop Ballerina (Nadia Grachevo, Prima Ballerina), Bolshoi Ballet, Moscow, 1997
Related: Joe McNally: Faces of Ground Zero
Joe McNally: Faces of Ground Zero: Louie Cacchioli, Firefighter, Engine 47, FDNY, 2001