Joanna McCarthy's Life on Both Sides of the Camera

Since she began taking photographs almost 40 years ago, Joanna McCarthy has exhibited her work widely, won numerous prizes and awards, and been published in many magazines. However, prior to that career, she led another life in front of the camera as a model with the Wilhelmina and Ford agencies and was photographed by such luminaries as Irving Penn, Hiro, and Saul Leiter. For a number of years, the two careers coincided.

“I was always examining things,” Ms. McCarthy said during a recent visit to her home in Sagaponack. “I was a great observer. Photography was the perfect thing to do. I was seeing images for a couple of years before I got a second-hand camera. I started taking pictures and I loved it. But I didn’t want to be a fashion photographer.”

The transition between the two careers was gradual. As she began to wonder what she was going to do when she was not a model anymore, she studied acting for three years at the Neighborhood Playhouse at the same time as she was establishing herself as a photographer.

“I had a long interview with Sandy Meisner, who was director of the acting department at the Playhouse for many years. He said he thought I could make it as an actress. But as much as I loved modeling, I didn’t want my whole life to be about how I looked. I decided I loved photography more.”

She began to show people her photographs and received encouragement. Outside magazine had a section called Exposure, where they began to publish her work. She also won a number of photography competitions while she was still modeling.

“One of the first things I did was read in a photographer’s newsletter about Image Bank, a stock agency in New York.” Stock agencies maintain a supply of photographs they sell for specific uses such as magazine publication, book covers, and, more recently, websites. The photographer receives a fee each time an image is licensed to a user.

“Image Bank said to drop off my portfolio at 9 and pick it up by 4. At 6 I got a call from the owner, who said he loved my work and wanted me to come onboard. That was my first big break. After about a year I started making very good money.” Image Bank was eventually purchased by Getty Images.

Aside from stock photography, Ms. McCarthy has stayed in the fine art realm. Her website groups photographs into categories: Land, Animal, Man, Journey, and Americana. All of the subjects reflect her meticulous composition and her sensitivity to color. The photographs also testify to her extensive travels.

Her love of landscapes has taken her to many exotic locations in Mexico, Turkey, Estonia, Hawaii, Austria, Kenya, and Myanmar, among others. “I went to India and visited the palaces and festivals you want to see. But I’m more drawn to street photography.”

“I love being in the car, I love exploring. That’s what you have to do, you have to be out there. There’s a lot to see on the East End. The light is beautiful. I’ve done some amazing photographs here.” One of her favorites, “American Porch,” shows a row of old gray rocking chairs on a white front porch in Sag Harbor, the subtle tones overlaid by the bright colors of a huge American flag hanging from the porch roof.

That image is from her “Americana” series. Others range from a derelict red truck to fading signs on old barns to a dusty bison roundup in South Dakota to the Grand Canyon during its monsoon season, when cold air comes down from Canada and warm air up from Mexico to create a dramatic light not seen at any other time of year there.

She first met her husband, the photographer Eric Meola, some 30 years ago. “He wanted to book me for a job, but I was booked for something else.” They got together several years later, and one of the first decisions they made was to take two big trips each year. 

Early on they took an 11,000-mile trip throughout the United States. “We liked taking the time to get away from New York and be together. But we go off separately to shoot.” They have been to seven continents.

She and her husband first rented on Shelter Island for several summers in the 1980s, but when they decided to buy they opted for Sagaponack and found a modern saltbox down the road from their current house, which is on 10 acres they bought as an investment. “We let it sit, but when we sold our place in New York we started building on this land and eventually sold the other place.”

They left New York several years after 9/11, not out of anxiety but because Mr. Meola no longer wanted to do advertising photography, “and both of us had been there since we were kids. I love New York, but I don’t miss living there. I love living out here.” 

Born and raised in Sayville, Ms. McCarthy knew she wanted to model by the age of 16. “My parents brought me to an agency that wanted me to come onboard with them, but my father said, ‘No. Maybe the summer after high school you can give it a try.’ ”

She had a 28-year career that began when she was 18. “At a very young age I went over to Paris and Milan where I did the collections. That gave me the opportunity to work with photographers in the fashion industry more quickly than it would have happened here.” 

She did fashion shows for Ralph Lauren, Calvin Kline, and Saks Fifth Avenue, among many others. She also did editorial work for Harper’s Bazaar, Mademoiselle, and Vogue, and catalog modeling for Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bill Blass, and Oscar de la Renta. 

While her portfolio is vast and varied, she is a perfectionist. “I won’t shoot a bad picture. I was in Paris for five days once, but the light was terrible, it was raining. I only took one shot — but it was a good one.”