This one is going to take some explaining...

Okay ... Before anyone gets all bent out of shape about this photo ... It is joke.

I have several heroes in life, and the order goes something like this: Jesus, my parents, my grandparents and Joe McNally. For those of you who are not familiar with Joe McNally, he is a world-renowned National Geographic and Life photographer. He has AMAZING work and unbelievable stories of the jobs he has photographed. The man is a living legend. Seriously.

I was able to study with him a couple of years ago in Santa Fe for a week (after being on a waiting list for over a year). It was an amazing experience and he really helped take my photography to the next level. On one of the last days of class we had to do a mock fashion shoot. I was totally in my zone... working it... doing my thing... when all the sudden I hear Joe yell at me, "Hey, Machine gun Krista! Give everyone else a chance to shoot, huh?" I turn around only to realize the the rest of the class was staring at me. Apparently I was tripping everyone else's strobes every time I hit the shutter... and for the previous 10 minutes no one else was able to shoot. Ooops. (By the way, this was a timed "test"). SO.... I never lived that one down, and the name apparently still follows me around. My friend texted me this afternoon to tell me that Joe had mentioned me (a.k.a Machine Gun Krista) on his blog. I couldn't believe it! I think I am going to frame it and hang it on the wall, right next to my photo with Joe in Santa Fe :)

I had to have SOMETHING fun to post on his site as a comment, so what better than a tribute photo to my new nickname... A special shout out goes out to my friends Brien and Marita for the props, clothing and photography. This photo would not have been possible without them! (Photo by Marita Wright. Styling by Brien Blanford.)
The look on Brien's face in this one just cracks me up. "You wanna do what?"