january 2007 - Professional Photographer Magazine

espond appropriately to this sense of destruction,”
McNally says. “I thought that this
gigantic, oversized Polaroid camera would
be an interesting way to depict the people
who were so involved with Ground Zero.”
Rounding up subjects was slow going at
first. McNally visited firehouses and got the
word out as best as he could. Then he found
himself inundated with people ready to
pose, from a window washer to Mayor Rudy
Giuliani himself.
“It was difficult initially to explain that
the prints would be 9 feet tall, and get people
to understand the scope of the project,” he
says. “We were fortunate though, that people
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were interested in being part of something
that told their story. I had to find a way to be
respectful for the loss, and as a photographer,
this seemed like the most appropriate way to
respond.”
The series is a traveling exhibition, and
has been published book form by Life, titled
“In the Land of the Free and One Nation:
America Remembers September 11, 2001.”
“I’m really blessed in my career to have
done a lot of interesting projects and met a lot
of interesting people,” says McNally. “Whether
it’s hanging out of helicopters or chasing the
president down the street, I’m going to keep
shooting until they put me in a box.” ■
For more on Joe McNally’s work, including
the Faces of Ground Zero project, visit
www.joemcnally.com.
Don’t miss Joe McNally’s presentation,
“The Location and the Light,” at IUSA
2007 in San Antonio, January 14-16.
For details, call 888-260-0016 or visit
www.ImagingUSA.org.