Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Meeting a legend

Colourful thaipusam

"Making mistakes is part of being a photographer," says McNally. "The day you stop making mistakes is the day you might as well hang your cameras up because it means you're just not trying anymore. I make mistakes continuously. They are not perhaps as fatal as they once might have been or as egregious but you're always thinking -- I still say to myself when I'm on assignment, what would a really good photographer do right now?"... Joe McNally

On the eve of Thaipusam I got a call from a dear friend that left me pinching myself whether I was dreaming. I decided not to get too excited since it wasn’t confirmed. That night it was confirmed, I was to help my friend take world famous photographer Joe Mcnally and his assitant Drew Gurian to shoot Thaipusam!

Joe is here for a series of workshops and seminars which began yesterday. 

Whoa what a dream come true. You see I’ve always wanted to not only meet as many great photographers as possible but also to somehow go shooting with them. With just a few hours left i tried to sleep but that wasn’t happening.


Joe McNally

We headed to our meeting point in the wee hours of the morning. Sometime later they arrived all ready to shoot but I figured nourishment was better done there then at Batu Caves itself since they had just landed a few hours earlier.

Both of them were just really lovely people. I gave them a brief on the event, dos and don’ts and reminded them to be extra careful with their belongings and off we set for Thaipusam.

He jumped right into the scene even before we reached the temple gates when we arrived at one of the instant barber stalls and even got the barber and his client to shift position for the brilliant light coming out of the fluoresent tube light.

It was so refreshing to see that despite years of experience he still had the adrenalin rush that comes with getting excited with photography. He was like a little kid on a sugar rush ;p


Joe and Drew

I think we spent some 3 hours down by the river shooting, and just as we were leaving we got sidelined by briliant light streaming into the shower area ;p Lol Do read his Thaipusam experience here

Joe reaffirmed my strong belief that the more knowledge a person has the more humble they are and its only the empty cans that make the most noise.

Thanks again Johan, I owe you big time ;p

Ps: Always remember people who give you opportunities or help you in any way. Never take it for granted ;)








"I met this woman in a small village in Tanzania and she had been blind since birth and [she was] undeterred in the face of this kind of difficulty ... she would go into a field and she would forage for food with her feet and she would pick up leaves and roots and grass and crops and plants and bring them back to her house in a basket. Having done the rough sorting with her feet, she would then go through the basket with her hands...At one point she held up something and she showed it to me and she said through the interpreters, 'See, this is not food.'"

Visithra
visithra(@)gmail.com

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3 Comments:
Blogger Ninja said...
Oooh good for you babes...even i've heard of him!

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Great shots there from you and Joe McNally!

Blogger Visithra said...
saby : ) not surprising babe ;)

bjoe : thanks ;)