{"id":18964,"date":"2017-03-29T15:51:10","date_gmt":"2017-03-29T15:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=18964"},"modified":"2017-03-29T18:46:27","modified_gmt":"2017-03-29T18:46:27","slug":"integrity-character-and-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=18964","title":{"rendered":"Integrity, Character and Grace………"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Joe<\/p>\n

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I just had the pleasure of hanging out with Joe McNally for a couple of days at my home in Corbin, (yes, I’m bragging!). \u00a0Well, we weren’t at my home much, we were doing coal miners portraits in Bell Couinty, Kentucky. \u00a0O.K. “we” weren’t doing portraits, Joe was, I just made the contacts and helped him with his gear, and that is o.k. because it gave me something, very precious to me, time with Joe. \u00a0Let’s get one thing out of the way, Joe McNally is probably the world’s finest magazine photojournalists, a master of lighting, but what means the most to me, a man of genuine integrity, chracter and filled with grace.<\/span><\/p>\n

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I’ve said many times, there is no such thing as a famous photographer. \u00a0Elvis was famous, Bob Hope was famous! \u00a0 Photographers, at best, are just known or respected by their peers, Joe McNally is both known and \u00a0highly respected by his peers! \u00a0 Very few of us are ever stopped in an airport and asked are you,\u00a0“fill in the blank”, and if we are, it is 99% of the time someone that has taken a class with us, watched a video class, or bought one of our books. \u00a0So let’s get this clarified,\u00a0among our peers,\u00a0\u00a0Joe is famous, very famous. \u00a0Settled, moving on.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What is much more important to those of us that are fortuante enough to call him a freind, is the man,\u00a0Joe McNally. \u00a0Who is that<\/span> Joe McNally? \u00a0He is a truly caring individual that quickly and eagerly becomes a part of the lives of his subjects. \u00a0 Joe has countless friends from the 911 Project because he not only photographed them at a critical time in their lives, he became a part of their family, he went through the experience with them, suffered their loss and really cared about those people. \u00a0They are still close friends and he keeps in touch with them too! \u00a0I could go on, but trust me when I tell you 54 coal miners in Eastern Kentucky made a new friend over the last two days. \u00a0Around the world there are famous people, leaders, athletes, and common working men and women that Joe has touched with his genuine, caring concern and admiration for them.<\/span><\/p>\n

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If you spend time with Joe you see that he really does care, he really does try to look into the real lives of his subjects, he respects them (that is why I can’t share anything he shot here) at least not now. \u00a0He gave his word to the miners that they would see the images first, and that was the right thing to do, and he always keeps his word, so I will too. \u00a0Trust me the few I’ve see on the computer screen truly capture something far deeper than just a portrait! \u00a0Why? \u00a0Well, because\u00a0he is Joe McNally. \u00a0 I could have used his lights, set up by him and made images and I know they would not be anything like his. \u00a0He connects at a deeper level, and it results in truly wonderful images that capture the real subjects. \u00a0People that he interact with trust him, because they sense that they know they can. \u00a0I wear a\u00a0wrist\u00a0band that says “Becasue I said I would” \u00a0it remind me to keep my word. \u00a0Joe, doesn’t need one, that’s who he is.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Joe<\/p>\n

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I’m very careful who I invite into my world, the world of these miners and the mountains that I love so deeply. \u00a0Many have abused the opportunity and made me regret sharing this place\u00a0with them. \u00a0Joe did the opposite, he respected these men, he showed his genuine concern for their lives, their families the trials and tribulations of working miles under a mountain \u00a0in coal you can barely stand up in. \u00a0He left us with a deep respect for these people, my people. \u00a0He also captured their spirit, their grit and determination in his images, and I can’t wait to take the\u00a0 resulting prints\u00a0back down to the mine and share them with them. \u00a0They all will get prints of themselves, it’s a Joe McNally thing, starting to get it?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Joe<\/p>\n

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Thanks Joe, for being who you are, \u00a0not the famous photographer, not the globe trotting super star, not the guy that has rubbed shoulders with people few could ever imagine meeting, but for being a decent, humble man, a great husband to Anne, a true treasure to those of us who are honored\u00a0call you a friend, \u00a0and yes, for being a man of Integrity, Character and filled with God’s Grace. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0It was a good two days!<\/span><\/p>\n

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Blessings,<\/span><\/p>\n

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the pilgrim<\/span><\/p>\n

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