Joe began his career in 1976 as a copyboy at the New York Daily News. In the late 1970's, he focused his camera on assignments for The New York Times, The Associated Press and UPI. For two years, he worked for ABC television as a network still photographer.
McNally departed ABC in 1981 to begin freelancing for magazines. He began producing assignments for LIFE in 1984, and was a contract photographer at Sports Illustrated for six years. He has photographed cover stories for LIFE, TIME, Newsweek , National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Fortune, and New York Magazine.
Joe is regularly honored with awards and citations. In 1986, he received a Page One Award from the Newspaper Guild of New York. The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) has granted him numerous Pictures of the Year awards including First Place in Magazine Illustration in 1988 and First Place in Magazine Product Illustration in 1993. In 1996, the World Press Photo Foundation honored him with a Third Prize in People in the News, and in 1997 a first prize in portraits. Also in 1997 Joe won a gold prize in magazine photography from Photo District News and a first prize in general editorial from American Photography.
McNally has taught at the Eddie Adams Workshop for the past nine years and participated as a guest lecturer on the NPPA's Flying Short Course and National Geographic Masters of Contemporary Photography series. He has worked as a contributing pho tographer on numerous A Day in the Life book projects and was a featured exhibitor at the 1991 Festival of Photojournalism in Perpignan, France.
McNally resides in Westchester, New York with his wife and two daughters.