Kevin Ames, photographic craftsman

Kevin Ames has made and sold photographs since he was 12 years old. His photography career began in high school as chief photographer and co-editor of the yearbook. During the ten years he attended Boise College became Boise State University. Kevin concentrated on the humanities in many different fields including theatre arts where he learned lighting sound design, set design and styling that help him to have a well-rounded vision of how he uses photography to tell his client’s stories.

From film to digital

He mastered many facets of the photographic craft including architecture, product, beauty, portraiture, and in-camera effects all on film. 

In the mid 1990s, he made the transition to working in digital imaging first by shooting film, making scans, and building composites using Photoshop and Live Picture. He was certified to train other photographers in using Live Picture.  

He moved completely away from film to digital in 1999. With his expertise in photography learned from working on film, he easily gained mastery of the digital tools from capturing an image with rudimentary digital cameras to post-production. These skills have benefited projects for his clients from AT&T to the Belgian airline SABENA to Westin Hotels and many others. 

Writing & teaching

As he did when working with film, Kevin teaches digital photography, workflow, and lighting to students worldwide. He is the author of four books including one of the first renowned “Dummies” books to be printed in full color. He pioneered and wrote the Digital Photographers’ Notebook column for Photoshop User magazine for eleven and a half years. Today, he is a senior writer for Photofocus.com a 22-year old photographic education website. 

Kevin has taught classes and workshops all over the United States, in Canada, Europe and Asia. He has presented at Photoshop World conferences more than 20 times. He has taught at numerous American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) chapters, at Professional Photographers of America (PPA) national and regional conferences and at PPA affiliate schools. He is teaching at the Visual Storytellers Conference and at Post Production Word during the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, NV.

Kevin was instrumental in creating the curriculum for the digital imaging program at the Creative Circus where he also taught lighting, history of photography, product, portrait and many other classes for over a decade and a half.

Achievements

Kevin is a Certified Professional Photographer by the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) and holds their designation of Photographic Craftsman. He is also a lifetime member of PPA. Kevin served on their Digital imaging Committee as a co-chair to help PPA members transition from film to digital photography during the late 1990s and early 2000s. He is past president of the American Society of Media Photographers’ Atlanta/SE chapter in the late 20-teens.

He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Boise State University.

Theatre, books & travel

Currently, Kevin lives in Atlanta, Georgia, and continues to work as a full-time professional photographer. He loves live theatre, watching musicals develop from world premiers at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre to workshops to attending their opening nights on Broadway.

He loves books — biographies, mysteries, science fiction, and business.

This spring, he heads to  Europe for an extended holiday pursuing his hobby: photography!

Next up, the 3 states in the U.S. he has yet to visit: North Dakota, Iowa, and Hawaii.