Editorial
Front Page - Friday, January 15, 2010
Photographer develops his business after 25-year newspaper career
Stephanie Coward
“When I see things, I want to capture them; I want to document them,” said Photographer Alex McMahan. “I don’t know why, but I do.”
Always grasping the visual better than the literal, McMahan began a 25-year career, as a Chattanooga newspaper photographer, in 1981. He started freelancing almost at the same time he joined the Chattanooga News-Free Press. He left newspapers in 2006 to develop his own business, turning his side job of freelancing into the permanent, full-time job of business owner and photographer.
“It’s been challenging. It continues to be challenging,” McMahan said. “I’m glad I’m doing it, but it’s not easy.”
McMahan is the sole owner of his company, Alex McMahan Photography. “There have been rare occasions when I need to sub-contract with additional photographers to assist me,” he said. “But 99 percent of what I do, I am the (only) shooter.”
Working in both Tennessee and Georgia, there is little if anything, that McMahan can’t shoot, he said. His Web site offers portfolio galleries for a variety of shoots to include: weddings; portraits; landscapes; corporate; real estate; other events; sports and products.
He also provides photographic services to Chattanooga Bar members. “Lynda Hood is a good friend and has been nice enough to send a number of jobs my way over the years,” he said.
If not for his aunt, McMahan may never have entered the photography realm. After asking her about a camera he saw in an ad, his aunt – who dabbled in photography herself – said something to McMahan’s father, and that Christmas, he received his first camera, a Canon AE1. “I was expecting a shirt,” McMahan said. “There was no money in the family and that (the camera) was expensive.”
Today, thinking of that first camera and the progression photography has taken the past three decades, is enough to bring a nostalgic smile to McMahan’s face. “Things (in the ’80s and early ’90s) were more segmented as far as photographers,” he said. “The digital age has kind of homogenized that; you can do a little bit of everything now.”
The biggest shock from the digital revolution came to McMahan after Chattanooga’s two dailies merged in the ’90s. It never ceased to surprise him when he met interns and new hires who had never used a film SLR camera and only ever worked in the digital format.
McMahan grew up in Dade County, GA and first worked at the Dade County Sentinel before moving to Chattanooga. It was at the Sentinel that McMahan learned newspaper basics. After a three-year stint at the camera shop, McMahan joined the staff of the Chattanooga News-Free Press. “That paper gave me the opportunity to do what I am doing now, and I am grateful for that,” McMahan said. He worked at the paper through a name change and its eventual merger into the Chattanooga Times Free Press. When he left the paper in 2006, he also left Tennessee, and moved back to Dade County. He works in both areas though many days traveling to Chattanooga for an appointment and back to Georgia for another.
Though he loves photography, his world revolves around his 11-year-old daughter, Savannah Grace. His eyes lit up like the Times Square New Year’s Eve ball when he spoke of her. Savannah is a sixth-grade student at the Chattanooga Center for the Creative Arts. “She really has blossomed and I am so proud of her,” he said. Her innate talent was apparent when at just two and a half years old, Savannah sang “Amazing Grace,” acapela style at her church. McMahan said that she thought that it was her song because of her middle name.
Savannah also does work at the Chattanooga Theater Center and just recently finished performing in Madeline’s Christmas. “She’s interesting because she can be quiet and reserved, kind of almost shy one on one, but then she has absolutely no problem getting up in front of a crowd whether it’s a few dozen, a few hundred or a few thousand people,” said the proud father.
It was also through Savannah that McMahan learned there are times when one must stop documenting life and become a part of it. While photographing her birth, he noticed that it felt like a job. “That was a good lesson. The bottom line is I’ve tried to be more of a participant,” he said. “I’ve spent my entire life spectating more so than participating and that’s why it (photography) was kind of a natural fit for me And you need to put the camera down and participate every now and then.”
His significant other, Valera Decker, has been a tremendous help in creating his marketing material, he said. To view his portfolios or contact the photographer, visit Alex McMahan’s Web site at www.alexmcmahanphoto.com.
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