Profile
Scott Kelby is one of the biggest global names in photography training, as well as an author, podcaster, editor, blogger, and designer. We find out how he balances it all and still finds the energy to connect with live audiences
Multi-talented Scott Kelby on juggling photography, tuition, speaking and business
IF YOU had to describe Scott Kelby’s career in one word, it would be prolific. He’s written over 100 books and is best known to many as the CEO of Kelbyone, one of the most comprehensive online training platforms for photography and image processing. And yet the qualities that stand out when speaking to Scott (or reading one of his books) are his warmth, humility and sense of humour.
In his twenties, he was making a living by playing keyboards full-time in bands and clubs, or as he puts it: “Mostly fulfilling the dream of being a starving musician.” After a brief stint in the finance industry, Scott quit to start a graphic design business with his wife. This led to him starting a local newspaper for Mac enthusiasts, which over time grew into a national magazine available on bookstands. That got him into writing, and eventually a book publishing deal, and helped him launch his first live Photoshop seminar.
“I would sound a lot more intelligent if I said it was all carefully planned,” says Scott, who believes that a lot of his career
was luck, a door opening when he least expected it, or one thing leading to another. It’s easy to be carried along by Scott’s optimism and energy, and it feels like he’s been making much of his own luck all along. Here, we find out what he makes of AI photo editing, what photography worlds he wants to tackle next, and what the success of having the world’s best-selling photography book really means…
You’ve had a hugely varied career. What got you into photography?
I’d never really thought much about photography growing up, but one day, my older brother came home with some 8x10 glossy prints from a trip he took to Europe, and I was just blown away. I couldn’t believe someone I knew could take photos like that, and it intrigued me. My brother saw my enthusiasm for it, and when he bought a new camera, he gave me his old one (a Minolta SRT 101 film camera). I was off and running.
It wasn’t long before a friend and I opened a small portrait studio, and I was shooting day and night non-stop. Shooting so much that I burned out on photography. I literally just stopped. I closed the studio, packed up my gear, and stored it all up in the attic, and I didn’t touch it for about 10 or 12 years.
I was done with photography… until the day I held my first DSLR (a Nikon D1, back in 1999 or 2000). Seeing that image appear instantly on the back of the camera reignited my passion for photography, and I’ve been shooting and loving it, ever since.
Was there a ‘big break’ moment?
I think it was when I wrote my book, The Digital Photography Book (I know, kind of an obvious name), as that book took off and sold millions of copies. It’s translated into dozens of different languages. It’s the no.1 bestselling book on digital photography in history, and it set off my career as an author, speaker, and instructor. That was a real turning point for me.
For several years you were named as the top-selling author of books on photography globally. How does that make you feel?
Weird. This is something I’m sure a therapist or psychologist would have a field day with, but I work hard to write great books that I feel will help people – that will get results and make a significant difference in their enjoyment of photography. That leads to books that sell, sure, but then we receive awards or accolades, and I almost feel like it’s
happening to someone else. I’m very shy about it, and my publisher has to push me even to share the news because I don’t like to toot my own horn. I guess I just want to focus on the education and not the accolades or high sales numbers.
Does that success come with a certain level of pressure to follow up with more content? How do you deal with that?
Oh my gosh, does it ever? It’s like a band releasing a hit album. How do you follow it up? There’s a lot of pressure to make the next one bigger and better, but I just try to keep my head down, do the right thing for the reader, and not get distracted by that pressure.
It’s not easy to do because a lot of people are really counting on you. Following up a smash bestseller is not for the faint at heart.
As a photographer, you’ve shot many different genres. Do you follow your interests?
Although I shoot many different genres (because I teach them), my passion lies in travel photography, portraiture, and sports photography. Take travel photography, for example. I love to travel – love it! So, taking my love of photography and joining it with my love of travel, makes the whole experience much more fun. Add my love of people, and toss in the occasional stop at a local burger joint, and it makes you want to grab a camera and run to the airport.
Do you have a constant approach or style? It feels like sports photography requires a different mindset to your work on The Great Indoors, for example.
You have to switch gears a lot mentally, but I enjoy that aspect of it. If I’m shooting portraits, a lot of the time, it’s with flash or strobes; if I’m shooting sports or aviation, it’s with long lenses outside and a totally different technique. Travel is a short compact lens (and lots of pasta). The varied gear and techniques keep things from getting stale or boring.
You must have seen a lot of change in the photography
industry since you started. Do you think it’s a different landscape now (no pun intended)?
I do, and I think AI is already starting to turn our world a little upside down in that regard. We see it a lot in our postprocessing in Photoshop and Lightroom and a little in our cameras themselves (features like eye autofocus) but things seem to be moving rapidly. Things that used to be so tedious in post-production have gotten almost ridiculously easy.
That has lowered the bar to entry for professional-level editing, and I know that has upset some folks who learned how to do all this stuff ‘the hard way’. I get it, but it’s here, and complaining about it won’t make it go away. It’s time to embrace and enjoy it or watch it run over you. I saw this happen back in the transition from film to digital. It freaked many people out, but most eventually embraced it.
Many know you as the president and CEO of Kelbyone – the online educational community for Photographers, Photoshop and Lightroom users. Were you an early adopter of Adobe editing software?
I started using Photoshop in my day job as a graphic designer way before photographers embraced it for their work. I started back on Photoshop 2.0, so I was black-and-white scanning, colour conversions, and pre-press type stuff for years before it hit with photographers. When we completed our first full-day Photoshop seminar back in 1993, there was nothing out there like it and that propelled everything.
By 1999, we formed The National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP). Then, a few years later, we started an online training platform called Kelby Training. When Adobe launched its subscription model, a lot of people were upset. People started dropping their memberships, telling us they wouldn’t be ‘renting’ their software, so they would no longer be using Photoshop, and thus, they would no longer need us to teach them. #ouch!
How did Kelbyone grow into the huge platform it is now?
We were losing 1,500+ members a month, but at the same time, our online training unit was taking off, so we merged NAPP and Kelbytraining into Kelbyone. Thankfully, everybody overcame their fear of a Photoshop subscription model (well, almost everybody), and we could grow again.
You’re no stranger to public speaking or giving photo talks. Have you always enjoyed that?
There is nothing like the energy you get from speaking to a live audience. It is just about the most fun thing I get to do. You know that you have people in your life who, if they go to a great new restaurant, can’t wait to tell all their friends so they can try it out? That’s me. If I learn
“There is nothing like the energy you get from speaking to a live audience”
something new, I can’t wait to share it, and when you’re on stage sharing these things, and you see the light bulb go off in your audience’s head, and they are right there with you – it’s exhilarating. As an educator, it’s so much fun connecting with your audience, and the energy and ideas that go back and forth.
You haven’t always shot with Canon. Why the switch?
I had been a Nikon user for many years – not because I did the research and carefully picked the right platform for me. It was because my brother gave me one of his hand-me-down Nikon cameras, so I was a Nikon guy from the start. But the first time I shot a pro football game with a Canon rig, that was it for me – I fell in love. Before long, I had switched entirely over to Canon.
I think your choice of camera is a very personal thing. This is the tool you use to make your art, and it has to connect with you. It has to feel right in your hands, and the menus have to make sense to you. You want to feel like you are working together to achieve a common goal – to create something beautiful, interesting, or fun, so it has to be a fit.
Nikon makes great cameras. But Canon speaks to me on an artistic level and a technical one as well. For example,
I love the way Canon cameras render skin tone, and I don’t think any other camera matches it. And without doubt, Canon glass is also unbeatable.
What Canon gear would we find in your bag now?
My go-to body is my Canon EOS R6 Mark II full-frame mirrorless camera, which does everything I want and more. I primarily use one lens for travel – the RF 24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM – but I also have the wide RF 14-35mm F4L IS USM in case I shoot a classic interior shot. My go-to lenses for portraits are my Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8l USM and my RF 85mm F1.2L USM. For sports, it’s my Canon EOS-1D X and my EF 400mm f/2.8l IS III USM telephoto prime.
It’s such a cliche question, but do you prefer working in natural light or a studio? Actually, does it even matter?
I love them both. When you use natural light, you can only shoot in the day and you’re somewhat at the mercy of Mother Nature, and when you get gorgeous window light, there’s just nothing like it. But, at the same time, I love using flash or strobes because you can control and shape the light in ways you rarely get to do with natural light. The best part is – we can do both, and I love both for their unique qualities.
What’s been the highlight of your photography work so far?
I think it’s been those opportunities when you get to do something or get special after-hours access to shoot somewhere that would normally be off-limits. I’ll never forget my first time walking out of the stadium tunnel onto the field to shoot my first NFL Football Game (American football). I thought my heart was going to burst. Or the time I got permission to shoot from the second floor of a monastery library in Prague – I couldn’t believe it was happening.
I’ve been very fortunate to have opportunities like that, in some cases from being a book author or magazine publisher or from just asking nicely, and I never take them for granted. It’s such a treat, and the euphoric feeling you get when you know you’re getting into one of those places or getting access to shoot an event is so memorable and exciting.
I see the ‘creative pause’ on your scottkelby.com, which has been running for almost 19 years…
I write two blogs, scottkelby.com and lightroomkillertips.com, and it’s kind of like that old Russian proverb, ‘If you chase two rabbits, you’ll catch neither one.’ I wasn’t giving either one of them the care and attention they deserve, so I decided to focus on lightroomkillertips. Now I enjoy blogging again as I don’t feel guilty and I’m doing my readers a solid.
We spoke earlier about having a varied career. Is it challenging to find time to fit in everything?
Sometimes, but the nice thing about running your own company is that you have a team behind you, so fairly often you can step away to do other things, like travel or shoot a game or an airshow, and everything doesn’t fall apart. I’ve got an
amazing team at Kelbyone, with lots of support, and that frees me to have time to be creative and spend time with my family and friends.
And if you could only focus on one area for the rest of your career…?
It would be travel photography. I so love to travel, and I go light with my gear and still get the type of shots I want to. I can photograph people through my travel images, and I get to see incredible places, meet neat people, eat great food, and learn about different cultures. Plus, my family loves to travel with me, so we go on a lot of fun holidays together.
You lead many training sessions with photographers and editors of all levels. What is your advice to hobbyists who want to turn pro?
If you want to go pro, you need to develop your signature look – one that’s repeatable for you again and again. The more unique it is to you, the more you’ll work. Today’s cameras are so good
– heck, even our phones can take great photos – so if everybody today can take a pretty decent photo, why would anybody pay to hire you? They will hire you if you have a unique look they can’t easily achieve on their own or from their ‘friend with a nice camera’.
Chances are a lot of this look will come from what you do in postprocessing, but it might also have to do with how you compose or see a scene. Realistically, it’s probably mostly coming from your post-processing in Photoshop.
You’ll know you have a style or a look when friends or other photographers look at one of your images and say something like, ‘I knew that was one of yours’.
That’s when you know you’re developing your signature look – when other people start to recognize your images as one of yours immediately. I could pick a Joe Mcnally portrait from a stack of prints in two seconds. That’s what I’m talking about. The same goes for a Peter Hurley headshot.
I can tell you if it’s one of Peter’s (or one of his students or proteges). That’s the first step – getting your look. Then, I would recommend putting the rest of your energy into getting good at marketing yourself or getting signed on with an agent to do it for you.
What’s next for you?
I feel like my best images are still inside me. I’m pretty consistently frustrated with my work because I know I can do better, and what’s next for me this year is setting aside some time to work on personal projects and shooting for my portfolio.
I spend so much time creating images during an online course recording or during a live on-stage demo that I don’t often take the time to plan and set up a shoot just for me, so this year, I’m going to focus more on that.
“I get to see incredible places, meet neat people, eat great food, and learn about different cultures”