Leave The Gun….Take The Picture.
I have a feeling you and I, we run in the same circles. We read the same blogs, we hear the same rumors. If so, then you probably already know that Joe McNally announced his new book The Hot Shoe Diaries – Big Light From Small Flashes, due in stores on or about the middle of March. What a great way to head into spring!
To be honest, I have a personal stake in this book and have been looking forward to it for a long time. No, not a financial stake. Just a personal one.
On or about May of last year, I’m in the office, working oh-so-hard (or maybe cruising my favorite photo blogs) when my desk phone rings.
“Ugh,” I think. “What now??”
Then I notice it’s a 914 area code and that’s only one person. JoeyMac.
I answer. It’s been a few weeks since we chatted so we catch up abit. Then he says “Hey…I’m working on a new project and wondering if you’d maybe want to help me out….”
Now, this can go one of two ways. I know he’s done some cool things with models and actresses and ballarinas…HUGE potential there (as long as the Mrs. is OK with is all, of course.) I also know that Joe has shot elephants and other not-so-savory creatures. For all I know, he might ask me to be Chief Shovel Handler behind Bitsy the Elephant.
But I take a leap of faith and say “Sure. What do you need?”
So he starts to tell me about this new book he’s working on and how the title of it, as suggested by David Hobby, might sound noir-ish to some. Joe says he knows that I’m the one with the fedora from my JerseyNoir work…would I want to create a character for him to shoot on the streets of New York? (He had originally discussed shooting down the boardwalk in Asbury Park but then we changed our minds and headed to Gotham.)
Um…let’s see…how abou YES! (took all of about 1.5 seconds to agree).
From there it’s all downhill. After checking schedules, we settle on meeting on a warm June night. Hit the Redeye Grill for dinner first, glass or two of vino, catch up, discuss the shoot, then go have some fun. I walked into the restaurant looking like one of the extras in Swingers and walked out looking like Michael Corleone’s blonde haired brother.
Joe and Brad Moore (Joe’s assistant at the time) had done some pre-scout work, so we headed down to the Meatpacking District. Down there, off the West Side Highway, it’s all exposed beams and rusted metal and broken wood and just gritty. Joe loved it.
I had brought along my best double-breasted, pinstripe gangster suit, my fedora, my Lucky Strikes, and my .45. From there, this photographer just played the part and did what the real photographer told him to do.
Hold the gun.
Tip the brim of your hat.
Smoke. Smoke again. Um…yeah…can you smoke another?
If I ever develop lung cancer, I’m going to blame McNally and that evening back in ’08 when I was blazing up unfiltered Lucky Strikes so that he could get the image he wanted!
Seriously, it was so a lot of fun. Joe’s laying in the gutter (literally) getting the shot, kicking out the boards of a wooden pallet to get the look and shadows he wanted, chatting with strangers who chanced upon the scene and were interested to know what was going on….Brad trying not to disturb the fellow sleeping on the street as we got the final shot of the night…
Best of all, in between blazing up those cigarettes, I tried to take note of how Joe and Brad were lighting the scene. Using SB-900s and some filters, Joe created some great visuals with some small flashes. In the photo above, Joe lit me from the front camera left (I think) and Brad was holding a jelled SB-900 near where the gent was, um, sleeping (we hope). Joe kept stage-whispering to him to “Get closer! Get closer”. We also gelled the lights of Joe’s Suburban, as seen in the background. Cool stuff on the fly. Set it all up in about 7 minutes.
And that’s what the book is all about. Give it a read when it comes out; I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
And while it was great to work with Joe on this project – however minutely – I still harken back to those first few days that I met The Man. After jetting off to Europe one cold early January evening in early 2000 (yes! Our computers hadn’t crashed!), we had already scouted the location and had some time to kill in Germany. Turns out, Joe had his own idea of fun…
Ride the donkeys, of course!
This is a a never-before-seen image of the incomprable Joe McNally. Hey, I was the client…he had to do what I asked. Hey Joe, how about getting up on that donkey and let me take a shot of you with my crappy disposable PnS?
And the sport he was, he agreed. At the time, all I thought was this was what all world-class photographers did on their free time….
Now go and pre-order The Hot Shoe Diaries here… And enjoy. Also, check out the new Flickr group as well. And you can download some sample pages here as well.
Honestly….I was just happy to make it into the “Gellin'” chapter and not the “How To Light An Elf” chapter….but that’s another story.
© Mark V. Krajnak 2009 | JerseyStyle Photography | All rights Reserved Unless otherwise noted, images captured with a Canon 20D, SanDisk digital film, finished with PS2 and Nik Software.
JerseyStyle Photography 
Mark
This is great, you got a chuckle out of me. I envy the opportunity to do some of the stuff you get to do, just not enough to move to the east coast. I can’t wait to see the book, this adds to the anticipation. You are now a success on both sides of the camera, not many can say that.
Mark, you’re a great model!
Those shots are fantastic, there’s so much atmosphere I can’t even stand it.
I just added the book to my amazon wish list.
Mark,
I laughed so hard when I read this I nearly #$%’d my pants. Keep that shot of Joe for another 20 years and show it to his grand kids.
Jeff
You make a good model mark, might just have to get a copy now LOL
… and here I thought you only shot people with your camera.