Who is ken?...

... a little bit about me...

My Story

I've been a Photo enthusiast since my youth.

I got my first SLR (Single Lens Reflex) back in 1980. It was a second hand Konica. I actually received it for my birthday so I could take photos through my Telescope. It turns out my Telescope was a bit too basic. It had no way to follow stars (no equatorial mount or motor) and the adapter for my camera was a bit expensive for me (as well as fairly pointless without the proper mount).

I did like the camera and started to love taking photos (my astronomy took a back seat). Photography became somewhat of a passion – occasionally I could be seen taking photos around the backyard in my PJs!

Ken the young Photo Enthusiast!

I took my camera everywhere and loved taking photos of our pets. When I had a roll of print film developed, with some photos of our Shetland sheep dog (miniature Collie), the manager of the print shop asked to feature one of my prints on their wall – my first published photo!

My first "Published" Photo of Shane our Shetland Sheepdog

Much later, in university days I bought a Nikon FM2 - a fully manual exposure SLR. No autofocus and no auto exposure (but it did have an exposure meter). I finished my degree in Zoology and started study in Marine Biology - specifically Dolphin Communication. I had a lot of opportunities to take photos. I mostly used slide film and we used to take photos of the dolphin's dorsal fins (the one on top) to identify them. I took a lot of Humpback whale photos too - we identified them by their tails.

Bottlenose Dolphin Photo for identification

Later, I married and moved to Hawaii where I started a wedding business with my wife. I handled the Photography and Videography packages. I started using DSLR Cameras - Canon 5D. My photography really improved - it had to - you don't want to upset a Bride on her "one big day". I learned a lot about Portrait Photography and the benefits of external Flash with Diffusers. Lots of "in the trenches training"! Our Photography packages, which included a Fine Art Album (which I custom designed), were very successful.

My Wedding Day in Hawaii

Fast forward to 2009 - We shut the Wedding business down at the start of 2009 (the economy was not being kind to Destination Weddings) and moved to Montana.

Yes, Hawaii to Montana in the middle of winter 🙂 - Went shopping for lots of jackets and gloves.

A year later I started doing an online Photography business. I was getting a lot of questions about which camera to buy from family and friends and decided to create an online resource especially for beginners. I created DigitalPhotoCentral.com and a free eBook on buying a DSLR Camera. In the process, I started getting more and more questions about how to use a DSLR camera. I realized there was a definite need for a Basic DSLR Course for Beginners - and Online for convenience - so I started working on EASYDSLR Digital Photography Course.

8 Months later I launched EASYDSLR in September 2011 - since then over 70,000 students have been trough my EasyDSLR Course through my website and various Resellers including Udemy.com.

After years of requests from past students for more Photography Training I created a 2 Year Photography Program of weekly lessons called Digital Photography Insiders (DPinsiders). In DPinsiders I have created a Creative Journey for students wishing to embark on a gradual but steady path of Photography Mastery. I open enrollment for that Program a few times a Year... you can Find out More and get on the Waiting List by CLICKING HERE

That's my story - I hope you find this website useful and maybe we'll see you in the Membership Area one day.

Cheers

Ken Schultz

Photographer and DSLR Coach

As seen on: