A Pro in Your Pocket

Kel Kyle’s Backyard Shots pullout guides offer accessible tips and techniques for a variety of destinations and photographic genres.

Article By Jennifer Gidman

Images by Kel Kyle & Others

Kel bounced her idea off of close friend and fellow photographer Jo Ellis (http://www.snapflora.com). “I knew I could trust Jo with the idea and she would tell me the truth,” she says. “She thought it was great and gave me the impetus to talk to another friend and fellow photographer, David Akoubian, who also liked the idea.”

With motivation from her two colleagues, Kel set her idea into motion, recruiting a handful of other photography professionals to help her with the admittedly daunting task (she also runs her own Web development/hosting business) and scouting for corporate sponsorship. She sought the advice of photographer Tom Tingle for sponsorship, who was instrumental in connecting her with Tamron.

She tapped Jo to be the writer for the guides. “When I realized that I was going to move forward with the guide concept, Jo was the first person I thought of — I knew I couldn't do it all, so I had to build a hand-picked team,” she says. “Knowing Jo's background with writing just made her the perfect fit. She understood what I wanted to accomplish, shared my vision and is an integral part of the project.”

The result of Kel’s brainstorm: Backyard Shots, a series of compact, laminated photo guides targeted to both beginner and intermediate photographers. The guides, which either focus on a specific location or topic (e.g., street portraiture), contain multiple images by veteran photographers based on that particular location or topic, as well as an arsenal of shooting techniques and details on how each photographer approached his particular subject. “You’ll have a pro’s advice as you go through the Oakland Cemetery with your camera, for example,” says Kel. “Or for a specific type of photography, such as street portraiture with Craig Tanner, you get to know what’s in his mind as he advises you how to approach people and interact in that environment while you’re shooting.”

Content in the guide also includes more generalized topics, such as understanding depth-of-field or using particular types of lenses. The cover of each location-centered guide features information about the destination and the photographer, as well as the address, phone number, and GPS coordinates.

The guides are meant to appeal to both photographers who are just learning the ropes with basic gear and more advanced shooters with DSLRs. “They’re designed to encourage people to just get out there and shoot,” says Kel. “It doesn’t matter if you only have a point-and-shoot. With these guides, it’s like having a pro in your pocket, which is also the series’ tagline. These days, with everyone being so busy, we’ve become a generation that’s all about just clicking away and maybe not really taking it all in. I can say, ‘Hey, you live in Atlanta — head over to the Oakland Cemetery with this great guide you can fit in your pocket. If you drop it in water, it’s laminated. If you want to pass it on to someone else, it’s easy to do so.’

There are currently eight guides in production (five of them sponsored by Tamron USA, the series’ largest sponsor to date), with five photographers currently on the roster to provide their tips and techniques: David Akoubian, who shot Atlanta’s Historic Oakland Cemetery and the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth; Craig Tanner, the lead photographer for the series’ “Street Portraiture” guide; Jim Clark, who headed out to capture Blackwater Falls State Park and Canaan Valley State Park; Laura Kresmin, who took the reins on shooting the “Photograph Babies: The First Six Months” and “Photograph Toddlers: 1–3 Years” guides; and Kel Kyle herself, the lead photographer for the series’ “Photographing Your Own Backyard” guide.

Each photographer contributes new photos for their series, heading out to their chosen location to shoot iconic sights and subjects and compile specific tips for each image; some of the photographers also use images already in their portfolios. “Craig Tanner, for example, shot all new photos for his street portraiture guide,” says Kel. “David Akoubian, on the other hand, shot new photos, but he also had existing photos of the cemetery and the railway museum, plus we used a couple of my own images in the guide. I’d like the photographers to shoot as much new stuff as they can, but I’m definitely open to using older images as well — after all, if it’s a good image, we can still develop a particular topic and tips around that image.”

An arsenal of Tamron lenses was used in shooting the photography for these guides, including the 17-50mm F/2.8 , 60mm F/2.0 , 70-300mm VC USD , and 18-270mm VC PZD . “David really loves using the 70-300 for his cemetery photos,” says Kel. “And Craig is now a huge fan of the Tamron 60mm macro lens — after trying it at my suggestion, it’s now permanently attached to one of his cameras. I’m actually going to feature a story about him using that lens on the Backyard Shots website soon. You can sometimes get tired shooting the same things in the same way, and for years, Craig shot with a 50mm almost exclusively. He told me, ‘This Tamron 60mm lens made me want to get out and shoot. Being 6 to 12 feet away was really cool and forced me to see and work in a different way.”

The companion website to the guides, http://www.BackyardShots.com/, is designed to foster a photographic community, featuring information on all aspects of photography through live chats and webinars, training videos from the field with the Backyard Shots photographers, a how-to library of articles, and an enewsletter providing weekly tips spotlighting sponsor products. “I want people to have a place where they can talk to a pro or pose a question the pros can answer,” explains Kel. “It's about sharing as much info as we can. We’ll also have bonus info on the site: Once a person purchases a guide, he can enter a code on the site and find extra info for that particular location or topic. It might be an article or maybe a video or MP3 that can be downloaded. Tamron will have a page on there as well, where we’ll feature different Tamron lenses; plus, we’ll be giving away a Tamron lenses in two of our contests.”

The series is hosting at least four photographic contests based on featured destinations in the guides. “On July 31, for example, we’re having a kickoff event at Historic Oakland Cemetery, where David Akoubian will be leading a photo tour using his guide,” says Kel. “David will show people around the cemetery and offer them photographic tips, and I’ll announce the first contest at that point. The next contest, based around Craig Tanner’s street portraiture theme, will be announced at his workshop the weekend of August 27 in Savannah. He’ll talk about tips and techniques in his guide, as well as talk about using that Tamron 60mm lens.”

The guides will be sold through the website, and Kel is also in talks to sell the guides at destination gift shops and at certain photo retailers. “Plus, the Backyard Shots photographer will sell the guides on their sites or have a prominent ad that sends people to the Backyard Shots website,” she says. “With the advent of social media, it’s going to be a lot easier to get the word out about the guides. The photographers are going to promote the guides on Facebook and Twitter, and the sponsors will as well in their own updates.”

Kel has more guides in the works, including one that focuses on pet photography, as well as a macro guide and possibly an urban photography guide. ““There are more than a dozen guides total that I’d like to be out by the end of the year; we’ll be adding other photographers as well,” she says. “One thing I’m really excited about is Jim Clark’s son, Carson Clark. When he was 6 years old, he took an image of a monarch butterfly and won a Nature’s Best magazine competition. Then a performer asked if he could use Carson’s image on his CD cover. Carson’s a little genius — he’s even started writing books featuring photos he’s taken, along with his dad’s help. I’d love to use Carson in a guide or two for kids — by a kid, for kids. We're talking about making that happen!”

The takeaway point about all of these guides, says Kel, is that they’re accessible to everyone. “We let photographers know you don‘t have to be a pro — and I speak from experience,” she says. “Photography, in a sense, saved me when it came back into my life — I had a lot of silence and empty space when my mother passed away. My friend Jo was partially responsible for getting me back into photography, encouraging me to pick up the camera again and taking me to a few photo club meetings to get my feet wet. When I got behind the camera and started playing with it again, just sitting in my backyard and shooting squirrels and other animals, all of a sudden, it was like something had been lifted. It brought me back to a sense of life and getting back in touch with everything. I hope other photographers can discover or rediscover that joy with the help of these guides.”

For more information on the series, go to www.BackyardShots.com. For more of Kel Kyle’s work, go to www.kelkyle.com.