COPYRIGHT
© ZACHARY KELLY PHOTOGRAPHY 2024 - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Biography
Zachary Ashton Michael Kelly is an award winning, photojournalist and documentarian whose work focuses on the human condition with an emphasis on international culture and condition.
He graduated from the renown Brooks Institute of Photography and received a Bachelor's degree in Science of Visual Journalism in 2016. Zachary's work has been featured in international publications, media and product launches.
Currently, Zachary serves his community by working in law enforcement and passionately carries his camera for other work as an Outdoor Naturalist and photography instructor in the wilderness of Southeast Alaska. Juneau has become the setting for freelance stories that focus on human endeavors, cultures, and environmental issues both domestically and abroad. He takes every opportunity to photograph nature and enjoys the adventure of new discoveries. He finds his inspiration in the great outdoors where he photographs and sees new things in God’s creation. He photographs special encounters with people and animals anywhere he goes, looking for the beauty in the mundane and the extraordinary.
Kelly began his photographic adventures by following his passion for visual story telling at the age of eight when he received his very first camera; a 24 frame disposable Kodak for his birthday. His inseparable love for photography became part of his very identity and existence, a camera attached to him like an appendage. After high school, he moved from his home in the colorful Colorado Front Range to the sunny beaches of California where he worked hard to attain a Visual Journalism Degree and follow his dream to begin seeing the world through his camera as a professional. During his years as a student, he had the honor of traveling often to shoot professionally. In 2014 he traveled to Haiti to film a documentary where he first experienced his love for world cultures. He was also selected to be an official photographer of the 2015 National Senior Games in Minneapolis Minnesota, where he spent two weeks shooting assignments for local publications. In 2016 he worked alongside scientists for the New Zealand Department of Conservation while leading a documentary team to film the world’s most endangered and rare penguin species. After New Zealand, Zachary found himself aboard a ferry vessel on his way to Juneau, Alaska for what was supposed to be a 6 month teaching gig. He has rarely left the rainy forests of the southeast panhandle since. Though he calls Alaska home now, he is quick and eager to get on any flight, boat, horseback, snow-machine, car or other transport to get to his next photographic adventure.
For more information on Zachary's work or to get in touch regarding employment opportunities, feel free to contact him here.
Artist Statement
I aim to display my work as accurately as I can with the goal of telling a story that I hope changes your perspective on life. Every picture that shows despair should be followed by an image that conveys hope and encouragement. My goal is for you to see the beauty in people, nature, and our surroundings, things we often take for granted and should cherish and protect.
I want to be the voice of the voiceless and tell the stories that would otherwise go untold. Everyone likes a good story and I like to tell them through photographs.
Photography, to me, is the opportunity to record a frozen moment in time that would have otherwise come-and-gone without proof. This photographic proof is what makes up our history. Capturing images allows us to take a longer glimpse at the moment in time and better analyze, enjoy, share or learn from it. Like a page in a book, my images tell a story one photograph at a time.
Representation
Zachary's work has had the privilege of shooting for companies such as The American Cancer Association, Trimble Geospatial, Relativity Studios, National Senior Games Association, Living Out Loud Los Angeles, Brooks Insight, the Cities of Ventura California, and Erie Colorado and others. He was employed by CBS Television as a photojournalist covering events and happenings in the Southeast Alaska region until the fateful events of 2020. Mr. Kelly now serves his Juneau Alaska community as a Law Enforcement Officer, doing what is important to him.
