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Hey everyone. I wanted to formally announce that I will no longer be at Kelby Media Group. It’s a small industry and I’ve seen first hand how rumors get around, so I figured I’d make a post about it myself. First let’s go over the top 10 rumors about why I left 🙂

2021 UPDATE!
NOTE: This post is from 2014 and while I did spend 1 year at ON1, I decided that I could better serve photographers by starting my own education and training here at MattK.com

10. They don’t have crushed ice in the ice dispenser.
9. The Magic 8-ball told me to.
8. I felt me leaving would help end the Buccaneers pro football team losing streak
7. They only had Coke and not Pepsi products in the vending machines
6. The Photoshop TV “Steam” episode was removed from the archives and deleted forever (sorry, inside joke to anyone following PSTV a LONG time ago)
5. They only had 1-ply toilet paper in the bathroom 😉
4. I played one too many Lightroom and Photoshop pranks on my co-workers
3. The guy who sat in the office next to me played Enya too much
2. They found out about my secretly hidden “I Love Apple Aperture” tattoo.

And the last, and actual, reason why I’m moving on is…

1. I accepted a Vice President of Photography position at onOne Software.

Does That Mean I’m Leaving KelbyOne to work full-time at onOne?
Yes. A couple of weeks ago I made one of the hardest career moves and choices I’ve ever made. I decided to leave Kelby Media Group after 10 years to take a full-time position at onOne. I’ve been a huge fan of their apps over the years, they’re already a crucial part of my workflow, and when I heard their plans for the photography “space” in the industry, I realized that this was the next phase of my career.

So what’ll happen to my blogs?
Well, my Lightroom blog (LightroomKillerTips.com) will be turned over to Kelby Media. “Killertips” is trademarked by Kelby Media. Per my employee agreement I signed when I started, anything I write while employed at Kelby Media, that relates to the industry (whether on my own time or not), is property of Kelby Media – so they’ll be keeping that site and all of the content and maintaining it from here out.

But I still have my personal blog here at mattk.com. It’s mostly to write about what’s going on in my training, life and photography (mostly landscape photography). Best thing to do if you’d like to keep up with me is just check here.

Does This Mean I’m Moving to Portland?
onOne is based out of Portland, OR, but I’ll be staying in Tampa. I love Portland and would love to move out there, but I don’t know it’s the right move for my family right now (we love the sun and beaches too much). I’ll of course fly out there every so often as needed. And with the huge amount of cool things to photograph in Oregon, I’m thinkin’ I need to fly out often 😉

Will I Still Be Training?
Definitely! Training is in my blood. It’s perhaps the most important part of what I do. onOne has some great plans for where they can go in the future, and teaching people how to integrate that with Adobe will be a big part of my job.

Am I Only Going to Train with onOne’s Apps Now?
Nope. That wouldn’t be smart for anyone right? My training and teaching has always been built on Adobe’s products (mostly Lightroom and Photoshop). Over the last couple of years, I’ve spent most of my time editing my own photos in Lightroom, so that’s where I’ve spent the bulk of my time teaching as well. But I do use ON1 plug-ins.

So that’ll all continue as usual. But there’s also lots of other cool stuff to come too. Plus, you’ll still see me at all of the usual industry events that I’ve always been at, and hopefully even more. I’m sure you’ll see me at Photoshop Worlds in the future. I’m already scheduled to speak at WPPI next February, and I try to make sure I teach a few hands on landscape photography workshops each year.

Am I Still Teaching my Lightroom Seminar in San Antonio Next Month?
You betcha! I’ll be there!

Did Anything Bad Happen with Me at Kelby Media to Cause This Move?
Nope. They gave me my start over 10 years ago when nobody knew who I was and I’ll always be grateful. At the end of the day, it was personally and professionally the right move for me – and something I felt like I had to do, or I’d never forgive myself for not trying. I don’t know what the future really holds, but I know there’s lots of opportunity and plenty of good things possible. It was definitely a risk to leave some place that I had been at for 10 years. But there’s a quote from John F Kennedy that I’ve always liked and try to live by:

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present, are certain to miss the future”

Final Thoughts
I’ve gotten such a huge amount of support and I just wanted to say thank you. I don’t have to say good bye to any of you because this isn’t a good bye. I’m still going to be doing many of the same things I was doing before.

See you soon!

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