Thursday, 29 October 2009

Student: (Andrea Harte 09001944)
Chosen blog: (Joe McNally, http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/)
Chosen post: (On Location, Shoots & Ladders http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/category/on-location/)

Joe McNally is a renowned American photographer /photojournalist who has travelled widely. His photographic work, “The Faces of Ground Zero”, for the aftermath of 9/11 has been highly acclaimed. His credentials and experience involved 20 years as staff photographer with Life magazine and National Geographic contributor as well as with Sports Illustrator. He has travelled to 54 countries, 50 states and continues to provide fresh aspects to his work. Books, workshops, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Kelby Training all form part of his visual presence.

What I like about Joe McNally is that his blogs are fun and contain a lot of different information from locations shoots and tips to general views. His website style is bright, airy and full of life, in some ways he could be described as a walking, talking, running advertisement for living life to the full and maintaining your humour. His blogs are regular over the last two years with many categories, 23 so far and there probably many more in the future.

The overall style of the blogs is friendly, welcoming, fun and light but with a lot of information and knowledge backing it up. It gives the appearance that he never takes himself seriously and has lots of laughs. The target audience in general being those interested in photography but his style and manner make it good reading for anyone not so inclined. The articles are interspaced with images which, while giving some details about the shots also help maintain interest. The variety of topics is large, ranging from upcoming events, locations and equipment to friends, birthdays, best guesses as challenges, and many more. McNally responds to few comments allowing them to grow until there is something more to contribute. Links and referrals are provided to other matters that his friends, fellow photographers might be developing. Overall he projects a generous, upbeat, friendly attitude with a good dash of humour.

My favourite post would be his article on location, “Shoots and Ladders” in which he combines the difficulty of getting an unusual perspective on a subject with a reasonable shot, which he acknowledges himself, and then finishes the post with a gripping shot of a different subject. It is an unexpected twist to this blog. Leave the best to last and keep everyone interested in the next one.



My comments on blogs:

No comments:

Post a Comment