The Moment It Clicks
On the recommendation of virtually everyone I know in the photography community, I recently picked up Joe McNally’s new book “The Moment It Clicks”. This book is really something special, folks, and if you’re looking for a new book to put on your Amazon wishlist, this would be a great option.
Formatted like a coffee table book, it reads like a series of private conversations with McNally. He takes us through the processes of creating the images in the book. He gives us insight into how the shots came to be, what thought processes led to the final result, and in some cases we even get technical set up information. Technical terms are conveniently defined in footnotes, making the book very accessible to novices and pros alike.
Joe’s career has included assignment and staff jobs for Life magazine, Sports Illustrated, Time, NatGeo, and many other commercial and editorial jobs. He’s exactly the kind of photographer you’d like to be able to sit with for an hour or three, chatting about images. Fortunately, that’s precisely what he gives you – and then some – in this book.
Each photo and discussion encompasses just a two-page spread, so it’s very easy to digest bite size portions in the 10 minutes before bed or the 20 minutes before a client comes into the studio.
The best thing about the book is that it’s not all technique, nor is it all philosophy, nor all theory. It’s a little of each, with a little opinion and life lesson thrown in for good measure.