A job offer from the Ottawa Police gave Bryan McNally a career and the opportunity to explore artistic outlets.

He never would have guessed he’d end up here, but photographer Bryan McNally seems to fit in perfectly with the Ottawa Police, finding balance between his professional work and his personal work.

Working in the Forensic Identification Section, McNally’s job interacts with many of the different areas in the Ottawa Police recovering video, audio or photography from crime scenes to assist officers from anything as simple to a bicycle theft to a homicide. McNally also works on audio and fingerprint enhancements and technical support for the forensic officers.

Living most of his life in Ottawa, the 27-year-old decided to go into the photography program at Algonquin College on a whim.

“I had an interest in photography but never really saw it as a career, it was something that I was passionate about but there was no guarantee that I was going to make any money or anything like that because it’s a pretty competitive business,” McNally said.

He entered the program in the fall of 2003, during a very important transitional period for photography. The rise of digital was uncertain at best, but McNally’s class was one of the first at Algonquin to work with both digital and film.

“Even professionals weren’t sure where digital was going and how well it was going to progress and whether or not it was going to be better than film, because at the time it wasn’t better than film at all.  The myth around it was that it was fast, convenient, easy and cheap,” he said.

McNally graduated in 2005 and went right into freelancing with various photography companies in Ottawa, building up a network of clientele. In December of 2005, McNally received a call from Garry Carter, photography coordinator at Algonquin, suggesting that he apply for a three-month contract with the Ottawa Police.

“The Ottawa Police came to him asking for students that have recently graduated, and Garry called me and said that he felt I would be a good fit,” McNally said. He agreed, and after almost six years, still holds the same position.

“I was really fortunate to have a good boss, a good staff sergeant, and he worked to build a new position within our section to have an applicant. I applied for the job, and I ended up getting it and now I’m a permanent employee.”

Along with his forensics work, McNally also does commercial type work, from photojournalism of events and press conferences to official portraits and stock photography. McNally recently spent the day with the “trails” unit, riding ATVs and seeing exactly how trails officers do their job, while taking photos and video.

“We have our fingers in every section, so with doing stills, we get to see first-hand what their jobs are like, get to document it and take part,” McNally said.

His latest work project is video production, making training videos for police officers.

“It’s important for officers to keep current on new policies, technology and best practices. These training videos help to facilitate this continuing education making it easily accessible for our members to stay current,” McNally said.

Not necessarily what he was trained to do in school, McNally has found a new passion in video production and is grateful that his job with the Ottawa Police lets him explore more artistic outlets and take courses to better evolve his video skills. And while his work is time consuming and stressful at points, McNally still finds time to work on his own personal projects on the side.

One project he’s particularly focused on right now is called the National Capital Conspiracy, highlighting Ottawa’s artistic community.

“There is a lot that Ottawa has to offer artistically and it’s not necessarily a conspiracy, it’s just that its hidden and you need to find it and with that video series hopefully it will bring it out into the open a little bit more and encourage people to spend money.”

“You don’t have to be a painter or a sculptor or a photographer to be an artist. There are chefs with excellent restaurants in Ottawa, or people who have small businesses that are arts-based like jewellery that I want to highlight through this video series and help promote their work within Ottawa,” McNally said.

To see the first video in his project, or some of his other work, visit bryanmcnally.ca.