"You Gotta Turn on a Dime" is the story about a shoot with musician Fiona Apple. She had just come her successful album, Tidal. She was tired of being photographed as a waif and wanted a more warrior woman image. They did this shoot with her in a suit of armor and it was not going well. She had to get to New Jersey for a show that night, and her manager was getting mad. Finally he said they had to leave now and would have to catch the subway to get there on time. McNally turned to Apple and said, "Get on the subway in the armor?" The shot was made.
"Get a Permit" is about a rooftop shot with a performance artist from New York City who is painted up in a bright gold coloring. Someone called the police, stating there was a jumper in progress. When the police arrived — huffing and puffing after climbing a six-story walkup — they were not happy. Because he had his permit, there was not a lot that they could do, and he got the shot.
"It Only Takes One" shows that if you want something badly enough, you may need to take a chance on yourself. It was 1978, and there was a strike in the newspaper industry that lasted 88 days. It included writers, truck drivers, and photographers. McNally was a copy boy. One day the UPI picture editor came in and asked him if he ever shot baseball. McNally lied and said that he had. It was the playoffs between the New York Yankees and Kansas City. The first night he got chewed out for shooting insignificant film. The next day he got what turned out to be one of the most memorable pictures of the playoffs. Again, he got the shot.
To become better at something, two things can be done. First and foremost is to go out and do it, make mistakes, learn from your mistakes, make newer better mistakes, and repeat over again. The second thing is to find the people you respect and who have been successful. See what they have done, see how they have done it, and learn from their successes as well as from their mistakes.
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