By Molly Hanzidiakou
After graduating from the photography program at Algonquin in 2005, Brian “Shooter” McNally has made a name for himself in the photography industry. Literally.
This is Shooter McNally. And, video, cinematography, editing, production and directing should also be added to create his long list of talents.
Upon walking into a room, McNally seems to be known by many. A constant “Hey, Shooter” can be heard throughout any restaurant or bar in Ottawa when he steps in.
This is because of his many accomplishments in the past few years.
Up until a certain point in his life, McNally kept to the photography world and only shot stills.
However, in 2012 while redesigning his website, McNally realized that his work wasn’t so easy to define. In the few years before this, he started stepping into different worlds of photography: editing, producing, directing.
“I’m a content creator,” said McNally. “When I was redesigning my website and going through all my work and seeing what I wanted to showcase, I think that is where Shooter McNally was born.”
What was once a simple Facebook name given to him by his brother is now an identity for himself.
McNally’s work in the film industry has been recognized, too.
“It’s something I’ve always worked at constantly,” said McNally. “I can see faults in every piece of work that I do. I’ve had a lot of success with many failures. Video has always been there and always something I’ve worked at, especially in the last five years.”
His first major piece was a music video for the Ottawa band Fevers. After seeing them perform for a quick moment before leaving for another event, McNally emailed the group asking to do a music video for them. Of course, they agreed.
On the last day of submissions for the Ottawa Film Festival in 2012, McNally submitted the video. To his surprise, it won.
More recently, McNally created another video for the band this past summer.
This past February, McNally co-directed a short film Change with fellow filmmaker Matt Delaney for the 72 hour film festival put on by the Ottawa International Film Festival.
“By the end of it we were hallucinogenic in my office with 60 hours of no sleep,” said McNally. “This was the most challenging thing I’ve ever done creatively in my entire life. It pushed the boundaries without sleep and eating properly. It was a challenge on all aspects of being an artist.”
However, as hard as the process was, McNally and Delaney won. CBC bought a two year licence to broadcast the short video on television and internet.
After producing two Fevers videos and short film, all within two years, McNally is allowing himself a few months off. Only time will tell what’s in store for him next.
“I found that near the end of that run I found I was really pushing and forcing creativity. It just didn’t feel authentic,” said McNally. “I need to get my shit together.”