Biography

 In 2012, Kelly his wife started the family photography business focusing on weddings and portraiture/Boudoir. Over time, Kelly has become passionate about teaching others.  Kelly holds a Master of Science Degree in Human Systems Integration from the Navy Post Graduate School in Monterey California and a bachelor’s degree in business management from Excelsior College in NY.  He has completed the Executive leadership course at both UC Berkeley and Duke University and is a certified by the Department of Defense as a Master Training Specialist and certified Level III Logistics specialist.   Kelly has been involved in authoring, developing, and delivery and funding advanced skills training for over 25 years and was the Director of Training for the $95 million a year FORD Class Nuclear Aircraft Carrier Program in Washington DC for over 10 years.   All of this education and experience is brought to his Professional Photography education.

Over the past few years, Kelly and his wife Kalina (also a gifted photographer and active PPA member) has been hosting and delivering workshops both in the US and in Europe with over 500 students trained.  They have delivered 1-7 day classes all over the US including twice at Georgia School of Photography, Florida School of Photography, Mid-Atlantic Region School of Photography, California Center of Digital Arts School, and three years at Texas School of Photography.  Kelly and his wife run portrait inspired tours in Italy, Ireland, and Bali each year also!

Kelly’s work has earned recognition at various events and in a wide range of organizations.  He holds the PPA Master of Photography, Master Craftsmen degrees, is a Certified Professional Photographer.   This past PPA IPC, he had two images place in the finals (TOP 32) with one earning a Platinum and one a Silver medal.   One of his images was selected at one of the TOP 10 at the 1^st ever Icon Awards International Image Competition in Las Vegas in 2024.  He earned the Best Portrait of the Year award in 2017 and 2019 for Maryland state PPA and Best Portrait Photographer for the State of Maryland for 2017, 2018, 2019 and Wedding Photographer of the year for 2018, 2019, and State Photographer of the year in 2019 as well as Florida 2021 TOP 10, multiple ASP State Elite Awards, and two Fujifilm Masterpiece awards.  He has earned his” Professional” designation with WPI and Master Designation at Portrait Masters and WPE.  He is also a 2023 and 2024 Portrait Judge for the Master Photographer International (MPI) competition and was awarded the first ever “MENTORSHIP” award.    He has written many articles on various topics related to Portrait Photography with the latest on found in THE PHOTOGRAPHER magazine covering all things Constant Light (LED Lights) for Portraiture.