about

Shawn Mcginniss purchased his first SLR (a Nikon N60) from ebay after his high school granted him permission to attend a black and white photography class at a local community college. In college, he completed an 18-credit certificate program in photography and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the Pforzheimer Honors College at Pace University, Downtown NY campus.

At Pace, Shawn worked as a teaching assistant for photography courses and as a darkroom technician, where he managed the lab and advised photography students on their printing techniques during open darkroom lab hours. His photography has been featured in LEGEND Yearbook (2006), the Fine Arts Department Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition (2006), and published twice in APHROS, a university-wide art and literary magazine (2005, 2006). He shot the covers of two Pace University Performing Arts playbills: Marat/Sade (2006) and Diary of Anne Frank (2007). During his senior year at Pace, Shawn served as the Photo Editor and Senior Photographer for LEGEND Yearbook, where he got his first taste for shooting events.

After college, Shawn worked as a freelance photo assistant and as a research coordinator for a public health research center and grant writing support office at Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY). He began shooting events in earnest in the summer of 2006 with the launch of Shawn Mac Photography.

Shawn currently works at Hunter College as a project coordinator for a large faculty development grant in teaching and learning with technology. He shoots freelance weddings and events thoughout the year, occasionally shooting commercial and portrait assignments as well. Aside from photography, Shawn's professional interests lie in instrutional design and technology, photo retouching, web design, visualizing data, and exploring new advances in technology and computing. He is also learning the fire-spinning art of poi, which is rooted in the Māori people of New Zealand.