Photo Blog
Joe talks about a friend that has seen him, and other photographers, through thick and thin
Joe Mcnally on the famous picture editor Jimmy Colton
J
immy Colton is my dear friend and I’m so happy for him. He is semiretired from our industry, but is still quite active and produces pictures of the month, and content for Zuma Press. But he’s moved to Florida, and is also expressing his creative instincts by making pottery, which is beautiful. But I do, and always will, miss his presence in our industry as a picture editor. A recent example of his brilliance is his latest blog, Have You Ever Thought About Plumbing As a Career?
The title comes from a legendarily tough critique offered to a young aspiring photog by a picture editor who was obviously a devotee of ‘tough love’. Whether these words were said is a subject of debate. But I can say I’ve overheard some nasty critiques in my time – some were the equivalent of taking a sledgehammer to the fragile ego of a burgeoning (or not) photographer. “Why do you pollute the earth with these bad pictures?” Is one I believe I heard once at the Eddie Adams’ workshop, though again, given the haze 2am critiques mixed with numerous beers produces, I might be off on that.
The point Jimmy makes is that there are ways to go about critiques, or the offering of opinions. No one is always going to love your pictures. Failure is an ever-present aspect. Jimmy knows this, coming from a picture-editing family. His brother Jay was also a photo editor, and his dad, Sandy, was a legend at the Associated Press (AP).
Thick as photographers
I was on assignment, as a very young photographer, for the AP, at the finish of the Belmont Stakes. It was a potential triple crown run, and expectations were high. So were my nerves. I was sent to shoot the third race as a test. It was perfect. But for the big race, I hung with Spectacular Bid, the favourite, too long, and then swung to the eventual winner, which was Coastal. My film was miserably unsharp, to the point of being unusable. Tommy Dilustro, the AP editor on site, simply called out to me as he was furiously punching out selects, simply saying, “I wanna talk to you about your film, Joe.” He pulled me aside and spoke to me about my mistake. He didn’t humiliate me, scream, dress me down in front of the others. But he made his point. It was constructive.
Many years later, I was on assignment for Jimmy when he was at Sports
Illustrated. It was a big, expensive job, with a lot riding on it. It was the pictorial announcement package for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Jimmy wanted a highly evolved, technically complex, whiz bang set of pictures. The shot above is of the entire United States’ trampolinist team, in the air, in an airport hangar in Lubbock, Texas. Multiple exposure. Four days of prep. Lots of dough. Lots of tension. Shot on one piece of film. Done.
You have to realize as a photog, a pic like the above is a big leap of faith for your picture editor as well. This goes off the rails, their butt is on the line, maybe even more than yours. So when Jimmy called me with a thumbs up on this, it was better than getting a photo award. ’Cause Jimmy was in it with me. His counsel was always available to you as a shooter in the field, or back at the office with a group of pictures you didn’t really know what to do with. He remained, throughout his career, a safe harbour for
photogs. He remembered, and not all inside staff at the magazines do, how cold it can get out here in Freelanceville.
So his plumbing post has a special resonance. In this age of discord, his admonishment to all of us to keep it civil and supportive is wise. Differ, of course, but do so graciously, constructively. Let’s face it, there are plenty of people out there who are only too ready to screw photographers right to the wall via onerous contracts, rights grabs, lack of loyalty, under- or even non-payment.
Lots of nastiness out there. No need for it amongst ourselves. The smaller photo, to the right, is a screen grab from Jimmy’s photo journal. The portrait itself is by, David Berkwitz. He was the editor on location for Newsweek for John Paul II’S first visit to his native Poland. We’ve been friends ever since.
He remembered, and not all inside staff at the magazines do, how cold it can get out here in Freelanceville