Joe McNally visits Google

On May 15 had the pleasure of hearing Joe McNally speak at Google. It's quite an honor as he is a prolific photographer who's been at it for over 30 years. He's worked for Time, Life, Newsweek, National Geographic, and Sports Illustrated to name a few of the high profile publications he's contributed to. I read his just-released new book, The Moment It Clicks and thought it was a great read. His book is written in a similar style as his blog, which is very conversational and often self-deprecating in a very funny way.

Joe has already written about his appearance on his own blog, and here's what he came away with about the work environment at Google:

"Thing is, it doesn’t feel like a big company. It feels very human. It feels like a place where people (and their pets) are valued. The array of food options (for free) is astonishing. There are more cafes and eateries per square yard than Little Italy in NY. Seems management figured out it is cheaper, happier and more productive to take care of their employees and create a positive work environment than to burn them to a crisp, make them afraid of the future, and send them off into the highways and byways of California in search of a Taco Bell for lunch."

Here's the YouTube video of his appearance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Av6gCq_awQ

Woody Harrelson at Google

Last week I had the opportunity to photograph an event at the Google campus -- Woody Harrelson paid us a visit to speak about environmental issues, and the ways in which regular people can get involved and make a difference. He was very laid back and down to earth, and seemed happy to be chatting and mingling with all of the Google folks. He was also very gracious with my incessant photo-taking, something I imagine he's pretty used to.

It was a goal of mine to avoid the use of flash as much as possible. I generally prefer shooting with whatever light is available than to use on-camera flash, and it can get tricky at times to strike the right balance of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to get crisp, non-blurry images.

Here are a few photos I like from the event.

Woody Harrelson and Rebecca Moore (Manager, Google Earth Outreach)
Image info: f/2.8, 1/60 sec, 31mm, 900 ISO

Joe Hickey (Managing Editor, Voiceyourself.com), Woody Harrelson, Rebecca Moore
Image info: f/2.8, 1/60 sec, 24mm, 400 ISO

With mic: Rebecca Moore, Woody Harrelson
Image info: f/2.8, 1/60 sec, 45mm, 1100 ISO

Woody Harrelson and Sean Askay (Engineer, Google Earth)
Image info: f/2.8, 1/60 sec, 50mm, 1600 ISO

Woody was given a gift bag at the end of the evening, and was very excited about the Google branded hat he found inside it.

Image info: f/2.8, 1/60 sec, 40mm, 1100 ISO

Image info: f/2.8, 1/60 sec, 35mm, 1400 ISO