Amateur Photographer - UK (2021-11-13)

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk 29

JOE MCNALLY

Joe McNally’s top tips

Based on his career, Joe shares the

advice he would give to aspiring,

youngphotographers

1

Make powerful proposals

I think to survive as a photographer nowadays

you have to read a lot and you also have to be

able to write well because assignments don’t

drop from trees any more. You have to convince

people to give you money to go and shoot pictures.

You have to make proposals that are coherent,

powerful and intriguing.

2

Be informed

You have to be able to mix with a client on an

intelligent basis and be social and be informed. So,

I think there’s a big background of just being an

informed human being that is a really essential

component of this.

3

Put emotion in images

I’ve met photographers who come at this from

an engineering perspective and they can knock out

a picture, and make that camera sing and dance,

but what is often lacking in that kind of mindset is

emotion... emotional involvement.

4

Do your research

Research relates directly to your ability to be

successful, even if it’s a small job. Knowing that

someone’s got three children, or that somebody

does triathlons, convinces them that you’ve done

your homework and you’re not just checking a box.

For instance, you don’t want to shoot India during

the monsoon season, unless you’re doing a story on

water and its effects. Plan really carefully because

budgets just don’t exist the way they did, so you

have to spend the money wisely and research

enables that.

5

Have a clear vision

Put yourself in the shoes of the reader. If you

have an assignment to photograph a little town in

autumn, you have to realise you’re serving a reader

who’ll probably never visit it. You have to show them

what it looks and feels like. Give them a big picture,

then come down to a shop owner and then down to

the stuff that the town is known for... pumpkins or

whatever. You have to drill through things and the

only way to do that is to have a clear vision of what

you’re going to be doing.

6

Convey the experience

I always tell young photographers that it’s

really cool to fly backseat in an F/A-18, a T38 or an

F-16 – I’ve done a lot of flying in military aircraft

• but, at the same time, you have to realise that
  your job is to convey that very visceral experience
  back to the reader.

Kim Phuc, the
‘Napalm Girl’, 25
years later with
her then baby,
Thomas. Shot in
Canada for LIFE