I saw it–one of the first copies off press of what I truly believe will be the single most important photography book of 2008; Joe McNally’s “The Moment it Clicks.” (Published by New Riders). I have to tell you—I was blown away. I had seen galleys, mock-ups, and proofs, but there’s nothing like seeing “The real deal,” and it was just stunning.
This sounds clich©, but I couldn’t put it down. In fact, I literally took it to lunch with me on Friday (my wife was thrilled, and made some remark about what a fun date she must be if I have to bring a book along when we go to lunch. I did let her look at it though. Believe it or not–it helped). Anyway, it was amazing to see the way his images and real life stories seamlessly wrapped around all the education and the “how to get a shot like this” sections–I’ve just never seen any book like it.
As that one copy make its way around our office on Friday, it made such an impact on everyone who opened it. Joe has done something really special here, and a BIG congratulations to Joe for so willingly sharing his wisdom, his humor, his invaluable insights, his instruction, and some of the most amazing images I’ve ever seen.
I gotta tell ya; if it was just a coffee table photo book, it would be worth it just for the incredible photos alone. If it it was just a book of Joe’s amazing stories, or the “how to get a shot like this” sidebars, or just those little nuggets of photography wisdom he gleaned from a life behind the lens, it would be worth it to get any one of those. But he gave us all four. One foot on the coffee table, and one foot in the classroom. I don’t know how he pulled it off—but he did—in a big way.
NOTE: It usually takes about two weeks between the printer, and the time bookstores get them warehoused and into their system, so we’re still probably around two weeks from seeing them in stock, but you can preorder your copy from Amazon.com or Barnes&Noble.com.
