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!
I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
Matt,
Best of luck to you. You are not only a very talented photographer but also a wonderful teacher. Your lectures are so well organized and one of the things that I’ve especially enjoyed is your sense of humor.
Kindest regards,
Shelby
I really appreciate it Shelby! Thanks.
Matt, thank you for all the teaching you provided during your time at Kelby Media! You taught me tons! Sounds like you made the right decision. The right decision is usually the hardest one. Congratulations! Did you get to at least keep Snowy? Or was that property of Kelby Media as well? Can’t wait to see what you have in store for us in the future.
Congratulations Matt, I’m really going to miss you and you’re input into Kelby videos etc. I use the OnOne Suite so I hope you will be doing webinars and such so you are not “hidden” behind corporate crap! Hope to keep seeing you at the pro shows!!!!
Thanks Ken! If you know me, you know I’m not a corporate kinda guy. And thankfully, onOne isn’t a corporate kinda company 😉
Congrats on the new job. While I know you’ll be missed @ Kelby, you will make a huge impact at onOne.
Good luck in whatever the future holds.
Congratulations on the next step in your career path. I have loved following you from when you started at NAPP to when it became KelbyOne and I will continue to follow you. I love your teaching style and look forward to learning more from you. Good luck!
Matt,
I have always enjoyed your tutorials. Learned quite a bit from you during the early days when I started photography. You are a talented teacher. Anyone can be knowledgable, but to translate your knowledge to someone in a simple & concise manner is an art by itself. You have mastered that my friend. Looking forward to your contributions to photography & digital artistry through your association with onOne Software.
To a very successful career…
Congrats Matt and best of luck. This decision is triggering a question if I may and sorry if that has already been posted here. I am a great fan of LR5 and I do use Perfect Suite 9. I am not a pro and I do not believe I need Ps if I can stick with the LR/Perfect Suite combo instead. I may be missing something but as a photographer (not a “digital artist”) I do not need the powerhouse that Ps is. Perfect Suite gives me layers, etc…and it is more than sufficient for my style.
So, to the point. I know you are a great advocate of Adobe CC and I appreciate it works for you. I do not think it works for me for two reasons: first one is that the current deal include Ps that I do not need and $9,99/m not to use Ps is a bit silly considering LR5 sold outside the subscription model at around $75 to say $110 maybe. I am doing the maths and it is more expensive to subscribe after less than a year. Second problem is how do I access my photos if I stop the subscription ? You as a pro more than us non pro should have asked yourself the question haven’t you ? Or are you happy without being able to plan for an exit strategy if Adobe become really greedy and it cost you an arm and a leg to stay with them like…forever ?
Now I am seeking a bit of advice please. My view is that if LR6 goes subscription only (has this been announced one way or another BTW?) and I still don’t need Ps and don’t accept to lose access to my own work when I stop subscribing I will be put into a difficult position and will have to stop using LR in future and give other software out there a chance. If that happens as I fear it does because it is a logical thinking for Adobe with the introduction of LR mobile, what would be our other good enough option out there as non pro plebs to replace LR in your opinion ? I totally supported your views back in 2013 when LR5 was available outside CC because it was a very reasonably balanced view. If LR6 goes CC only i would value your opinion on the consequences for us, hobbyists, retired and non profit organisations. Thx.
Matt,
Congratulations and Best Wishes on your move. As an end user of lots of different software in many diverse fields, I have found onOne to be the best, most responsive vendors I have ever dealt with. I am sure you will be a great success there.
Hi Matt,
Congrats on your new position.
All of my interaction with Kelbyone is via “The Grid” and other yourtube/App store content, so I’m a bit sad to hear your moving on because I personally will miss you on the Grid,
But I’m really happy for you though, so good luck and keep on truckin’. Or photgrapy-ing. Or something.
Jason “I’d be surprised if you know I existed” Tan aka random follower #904588657492
Matt, Congrats on the new position. I’m sure it’s a great opportunity and does seem like the perfect fit for you. You were practically a spokesman for OO anyways. You are one of my favorite online teachers/photos. I’m sorry we won’t see you on all the weekly Kelby shows though. On ONE is a great company with great products. Their new suite 9 sold me for sure. (just can’t use it yet till I fix my laptop that just had a crash , sigh)
I wish you all the success in the world. Very envious of you who gets to do what he really loves for his actual job. Only a select few people can say that, sadly.
Keep up the great wokk you do and keep bringing us that cool Matt K style we love so much.
Can’t wait to hear/see what your team comes out with next.
Cheers
Thanks Stephen – You’re so right – I’m very fortunate to get to do what I love. I definitely don’t take it for granted 🙂
First you switch to Canon, now you’re leaving Kelby?! What other plot twist do you have up your sleeve? Are you an alien? You’re actually a spy from the Apple Aperture division? Regardless, congratulations on the big change! And, just a thought, but should it be necessary for you to make a move west, Bend, Oregon is proving to be a pretty amazing place. No beaches, true. But there is an endless amount of landscape photography to do here! Anyway, congratulations again!
Dude, I love it out there. We drove through Bend and stopped at one of the brewery’s on our way back to Portland. We spent several days in the Alvord desert area and all around. You were in NY at Joe’s thing though, or I woulda looked you up.
Matt, congratulations on the move and position. I have your photo, Hawaii Sunset, that you gave to me at Photoshop World in Sept. sitting right here. I loved the story about “saving” your family that day from the waves. I am still trying to decide on the upgrade to Perfect Suite Premium Upgrade 9. I love the software but there are so many upgrades to so many software packages every year that it is a difficult decision. I keep telling myself that I will skip a year but seem to always upgrade. So far I have held out but who knows… Again, congrats. I am sure you will be missed at KelbyOne. It was sure nice of Scott to change the name to KelbyOne so that you had an easier transition to OnOne. 🙂
Thanks Craig! Yep, I remember you and telling that story. My kids are still mad at me for not letting them boogie board there that day. Maybe they’ll understand one day 😉
Congratulations on the new position. Major life changes like this are never easy and I have respect for anyone willing to take such a chance. You’ll do great things with OnOne. Best of luck to you.
Congrats! I wish you the very best of luck in your new career ventures! I’m also REALLY glad you will still be an educator because I have learned a lot from you and I’m looking forward to learning a lot more.
Best wishes,
Cheri’
just a thought, years ago OnOne had painterly presets (as Topaz seems to dominate with now) and to me, with Lightroom for photo improvement, OnOne became a little de trop. Maybe fight Topaz for that market too? Best of luck in your new challenges!
Matt,
Best of luck on your new job at OnOne, and when can I purchase a seat at your first Lightroom/OnOne class. They, (OnOne), will be missing the boat if they don’t send you out. I love both products and could not think of post processing without my Lightroom 5 and OnOne 8.1. I can’t wait to finish working on this new home we bought to upgrade to OnOne Suite 9.
Keep up all of your great classes,
Mike
I’ve got some ideas Mike so stay tuned!
Matt:
Good Luck at OnOne. I have followed you for years at Kelby especially since you are from NJ. I always enjoyed your work and teaching.
Bruce Himelman
Us New Jersey peeps have to stick together 😉
Thanks!
Congratulations on the new position. I’ve learned a lot from you over the years. I think I’ve watched you since 2006 on the Photoshop User TV podcast.
I’ll miss you on the Grid and PhotoshopUser TV.
Maybe this is something you are already thinking about, but I’m a cordcutter, so I don’t have cable tv. I’m always looking for interesting, informative content so I hope you might consider starting your own podcast either audio or video. It would be nice to have another show to look forward to weekly or monthly. Just a thought.
All the best to you in your new position.
Matt, you are one of the greatest trainers around, and KelbyOne won’t be the same without you. I wish you all the best in your new job. OnOne software is fantastic, and the company is really lucky to have you. I hope that KelbyOne will some day offer a member discount for OnOne Software like it used to. 🙂
Thanks Eve!
Thanks Eve. Great idea about the discount. I’ll see what I can do 🙂
A big congrats, Matt, on your recent career move. I have been using OnOne software since PhotoTools 1.0 and I have been following your work since the early Kelby days. I have always enjoyed your teaching style and I am super excited to know that you are now an OnOne team member.
Congrats again and best of luck to your new direction!
Wow Jan, you’ve been using it longer than me! Super excited and many thanks for the kind words!
Matt,
I’m very excited about your new direction, although with real regret that The Grid and all the other Matt stuff at K1 will be gone. I’ll remember the two of us as the “lone survivors” on 2nd beach last year along with the tons of stuff I’ve learned from you. And, anytime you are out in Portland and looking for a chum to shoot with or someone to haul your bag, I’ll be up there from Bend if humanly possible. Really looking forward to what you’ll bring at OnOne.
Thanks Jim. I remember that as well. Fun times! And we definitely need to go shooting soon.
great decision Matt / have followed you for years – and just decided not to renew with Kelby as I hate with a passion the intense commercial promoting and bullshit there – Even so I thank Scott and Kelby – I have learned a ton from you all – love OnOne as a vibrant pumped company – and will continue to follow you –
I’ve read your tutorials in PhotoshopUser, watched on DTown, used your lightroom presets etc. . Overall, I’ve learned a lot from you, so thank you.
Congratulations and good luck. Onward and upward.
Matt –
Best wishes my man. You are the ONE “Photoshop Guy” I never got to meet in person, but made such an impact in my life. In fact, I just told Scott last month that I really wanted to meet you. Hopefully that might still happen – just not in the KelbyMedia context. Again, best wishes on your career move! I’ll still be watching you… 😉
Thanks Chris! I’m sure we can meet up at some point.
Matt –
Good luck with the change in careers. Thanks for all the help from your books and training!
Good Luck!
Hey Matt, Congrats on the job change! onOne is lucky to have you!
You mentioned the past 10 years working with Scott and getting your start there, I met you in NY nearly 10 years ago stating the fact that I see you on Photoshop TV and finally got to meet you. Who knew how the industry would grow to what it is today, how far you’ve gone and where it’s leading you!
It’s been a pleasure following you and your training over these past many years. I hope to meet up with you again at a seminar!
Good luck –
Jan
We will definitely miss you on the GRID(White watch and all! LOL)
Wishing you all the best in your new career quest, and look forward in seeing more beautiful landscapes from you now that you might be spending more time on the most beautiful side of the US.
Most of us can only wish to be under Scott’s umbrella…
Have a great day Matt!
Matt — very excited for you, and for me. In the past year I’ve been moving to Perfect Photo Suite but I’ve got a long way to go on the learning curve compared to what I know of Photoshop. I’m looking forward to you accelerating the pace of my learning curve. Been to more than one of your seminars — look forward to more!
Wishing you every success in your new position Matt.
matt, thanks for clearing things up.. As a newbie I have followed your work at Kelby and you videos online and your efforts are very helpful.. Thanks.. As I mentioned I am fairly new and I jumped into LR/PS got buried quickly in PS, but I was able to get to use LR, but then I found PSS and now I am learning a new flow, looking forward to seeing your topics for OnOne.. Thanks for teaching many folks…
Matt,
I’ve followed you since the Photoshop Elements days and met you in Sacramento with LR training. What a great session! I learned to go beyond the basics and master LR, was reminded of some nearby Tahoe haunts that I needed to visit again, was introduced to the work of Karen Hutton, and also jumped in headfirst with OnOne Perfect Photo Suite. My workflow has been much improved ever since, as well as my passion for photography.
While I was surprised to hear you leaving KelbyOne, I was equally happy to hear you joined OnOne, as now it is even more likely that their tools will continue to flourish.
Congratulations and cannot wait to see what comes next from Matt K.!
Dave
Matt,
I have learned a lot from you over the years. I am sad to see you leave the team, but glad that you are looking in a positive direction.
I shall check this website from now on to see how you are doing, as I do not like goodbye’s any more than you do.
May you find the piece, happiness and prosperity you are looking for.
Hi Matt,
Congratulations on the big move! I started watching you back on D-town TV. Look forward to more great tutorials at onOne and on your blog.
Matt, best of luck. I admire your courage in leaving such a great company as KelbyOne. Remember, Sandy and I will always have the welcome mat out for you in Singapore, Fresno and Tucson. Singapore should be easier to get to from Portland than Tampa. I suspect you will eventually move there. Indeed, it will be tough on Ryan and Justin, but the West Coast would be a great life experience for them while they are maturing. Send me your new email once you get it, as I have a few thoughts on where landscape photography is headed. Also, I would LOVE to access OnOne via the Filter menu. I often forget to use their stuff because it is not there with the Nik, Topaz, Imagemonic and Alien Skin plugins.
Congratulations Matt! I’m hoping with your knowledge and expertise, onOne will be a company I will consider using again 😉
I purchased the full suite at 5.5, and found that it did not integrate with Photoshop CS4 Extended. It would make Photoshop freeze up, and would not work within smart objects, as the full suite of Nik and Topaz do. I was never able to use it, and contacted onOne for advice. I was encouraged to upgrade every time a new version was released, which I did, without any change in its usability. Finally at suite 8, I was advised to change from the Photoshop version to a stand alone version. I have hundreds of dollars in my initial purchase, and subsequent upgrades, to end up with a standalone version which I have yet to use…and now they are on version 9. Disappointed to say the least. I have used the full suite of Nik and Topaz for years within Photoshop and smart objects with no trouble at all…
just a thought, years ago OnOne had painterly presets (as Topaz seems to dominate with now) and to me, with Lightroom for photo improvement
I have learned a great deal from your classes on Kelby Training / Kelby One
and love one products so I can wait to keep on keeping on. Good luck and congratulations.
Best wishes, Matt! I really enjoyed your seminar in Philly last week. I wish I had the opportunity to continue learning LR from you!!
Good luck!
–Jay Gorodetzer
Sheesh…I remember the Steam episode…was it that long ago? Man…gettin’ old…;-)
Hey Matt. Congratulations with OnOne. I wanted to say thank you so much for the many hours of Photoshop and Lightroom training that I’ve consumed of yours over the years (looking forward to many more). I cut my Photoshop teeth watching The Photoshop Guys about eight years ago. There weren’t hardly any tutorials back then, and I knew I found “gold” with the show. I looked forward to the weekly training and fun banter between you three. BIG thanks. Can’t wait to see what you do next.
Wow, Matt! Say it ain’t so! Actually, you’re leaving one great family for another. Love the OnOne products and am just now getting deeper into Effects.
This might make it a little harder for me to stalk you on your West coast sojourns as I’ve done in the past.
It’s strange to learn so much from someone you’ve never met. If you ever make Portland your new home, I’ll buy you a beer. If you don’t drink, well I’ll just drink yours.
Sad to hear the news and excited for your next chapter.
Oh I drink! IPA please! 🙂
Good luck, sounds like an exciting adventure. On one of your trips to Oregon you should shoot the Highway of Waterfalls . I live in Roseburg and have shot many of them. If you ever decide to shoot let me know.
http://www.southernoregon.org/article?articleName=highway-waterfalls
Congrats Matt! Really excited for you! OnOne is even stronger now with your knowledge and creativity.
Best of luck on this new adventures. You will be missed at Kelby One. And I will miss your presence on The Grid. Keep up the great work as you always do. Still looking forward to your Lightroom tips etc as you can provide them on your blog. A great class act as always. I am sure we will see more of your great work online.
Cheers from Canada….Kim
All the best Matt!
I am a new user to the Onone photosuite… still pretty much exploring and trying hard to figure it out a new more efficient workflow especially with LR + PS.
I hope you will give a lot of training on Onone too!
Grid will be no fun without you 🙂
All the best, I will see more of your efforts now – never been a Kelby fan but use OnOne daily -;0)
So the best thing about KelbyOne has moved on. Are you going to feel bad now that you are gone no one will watch Scott on his show. It must have been a hard decision. Let us know where we can watch you teach again.
Wow! Matt, I just got around to looking at your blog and was Shocked! At first, I thought you were going to be joking with us … not so! I’m surely going to miss your Lightroom Tips and your Tutorials! You have been such a Great inspiration for me ever since I became a NAPP member in 2007. I wish you all the Best, and you can bet I’ll be checking on you! 🙂
So, will you still be doing the Lightroom Seminar in San Antonio?
Dennis
Hey Dennis. Yep, I’ll still be doing the seminar so I hope to see you there!
I would like to say thank you to Matt. Since I retired I have.spent a lot of my time working on my photography. As a former teacher I was taken by the way Matt put over his teaching and the thoughts involved. I do hope that your change of career is successful I am sure it will. I will continue to follow you and it pleases me that I bought OnOne Perfect 8.
Well I think you made a good move as I worked with Kevin your VP counter part during my HP scanner imaging engine days and he is a top notch guy. I am already a big fan of OnOne and hoping to give a talk and demo to my colleages in my states PPA. Hmmm already excited at what features an industry insider subject matter expert like yourself can help spec… OnOne rocks….
Thanks Peter!
The first thing I thought was Nooooo!!!! I saw you first and liked your stuff and because of that I got interested in Kelby.
By saying that I know that change is needed in order not to become stagnant. So happy for you and the opportunities it will give you.
Look forward to seeing all the new content you will be able to share on your blog and elsewhere.
Congratulations!!! From a lifelong follower of yours 😀
Best of Luck Matt! I remember the “Steam” episode, it brought tears to my eyes; from laughter! I may still have a copy of that podcast.
I still laugh when I see it 🙂
Best of luck to you, Matt!! I had a very difficult career change years ago too (leaving one company that I had been with a very long time and going to work for the competition). It was the hardest decision I had had to make up to that point in my life. But, looking back now, it was the absolute best decision I could have made and I have no regrets at all. I sincerely wish you all the best!! And, it makes me want to dig out my OnOne software and see what’s up with it. I recently moved from a Windows machine to an iMac a couple of months ago and haven’t taken the time to install that software yet. Guess I need to get to it (and probably upgrade it too)! And on a side note, I’ve been reading up on your landscape stuff here on the blog the last couple of weeks. We are going to the mountains on vacation this Wednesday and I’ve got my polarizer and ND filters ready to go!! 🙂
Matt I am glad for you Surely this change will enhance your excellent career I bought the Perfect Suite 8 and now the update after your recomendation in your book and I am very happy with it. Are you continuing with the mail list informing us your commentaries? Congratulations.
I can only imagine how hard this decision must have been for you but I respect your move and wish you the absolute best. OnOne is lucky to have you. I, too, have incorporated Perfect Photo Suite into my workflow and love the software. I loved it so much I had to buy a new desktop computer just to have the updated video card. I had been using a laptop before. So $800 later, I now can use Perfect Photo. Call me crazy! Good luck and look forward to seeing what you have in store.
I purchased Perfect Photo8 while attending your LR seminar in Fort Lauderdale. I would love an OnOne seminar/workshop in South FL. Just thought I’d put it out there.
Hi Matt, I am the Philly guy that complimented you at the Philly LR seminar on the HDR presets that I have been using since you released them. I did not know about your Change of Duty (I am retired Army…Hooah!) until two hours ago.
Congratulations and wishing you great success in your new position at onOne.
Spencer
Hey Spencer, I remember chatting with you out front. You were friends with the women I had lunch next to at PhotoPlus too right?
Thanks man!
Yes..Robin is her name, I am trying to each her to let her know you are now at onOne.
I am an ardent Matt K. Groupie and hope that you will still be working with Photoshop and Elements magazine – not sure if that is neutral ground or not. I LOVE your teaching style and have learned so much from the videos posted on the Elements website. Good luck – I really don’t think you could go wrong with the choices you have.
Hey Sharon – yep you’ll still see me there. In fact, probably more so now since onOne owns the Elements magazine 🙂
Thanks!
Matt….you rock! I’ve learned so much about Lightroom and Photography from you…..can’t tell you how much. You’re an excellent teacher and trainer. I met you once at the seminar in Kansas City. Good luck in your new position. Wish you the best!!
Thanks Kent!
Congratulations and best wishes to you!
Thanks Andrea!
Congrats and good luck on your move, Matt. I enjoyed your seminar on LR in Richmond earlier this year and get something from all your posts about landscape photography. Your move makes me curious about onOne, about which I know nothing.
Thanks Bill. They’re a great company with some really cool apps that I’ve used for quite a while now. Hope to see you around.
Wow Matt. Shocked and excited for you at the same time. Although we haven’t spoken in a while I still follow you regularly and I do credit you, Scott, and Jeff Revel for that great Adam’s Morgan Photowalk we did way back when (06?) that led me to pursue portraiture as a second career. You all gave me the tools and the confidence to get up and running. I still learn SOMETHING every week. Best of luck to you.
Hey buddy. Long time no talk! I still have a photo of us from that photo walk. Good times! Talk soon my friend!
Congrats on the new gig Matt. Change is hard; but it’s almost always good. Of course you’ll be great for onOne and in everything you do. Isn’t life exciting!
You betcha Jan! Exciting and crazy at the same time right? 😉
Thanks for the well wishes. Talk soon!
I’m excited for you. Best of luck. Love onOne products and recently upgraded to Perfect Suite 9.
Look forward to some video tutorials. One of my favorites is your video on onOne’s dynamic contrast.
I love me some Dynamic Contrast Bill! Thanks man! 🙂
Congratulations Matt on your new career move.
OnOne is a great company and makes great products. I’ve been using PPS for about 5 years now , version 9 being the latest, and its a part of my editing workflow on all of my images.
All the best!
Way to go Matt, enjoy the journey. I would hold off on that Lightroom splashscreen “joke” for a while until the new crew understands your “humor”
What better way to get them to understand it though 😉
Thanks Doug!
Somewhat surprising news Matt. I hope it works out for the best. The competition between these types of companies is cut throat. I’m just not sure OnOne is coming out on top. Topaz and Nik have a lot to offer.
On a more personal note. You were my favorite instructor at KelbyOne. I know this sounds corny but it felt like you were a best friend sitting next to me teaching Photoshop or Lightroom or whatever. Best of luck in everything you do.
Thanks so much Joe! I really appreciate the kind words 🙂
As for competition, well, Nik is probably going in a different direction with Google. And Topaz makes great products. Sounds like a good challenge to me 🙂
OnOne’s probably thinking getting you on board will double their sales. I’ll be looking forward to seeing a lot of videos showing us how to use the various modules. I hope they’re giving you a cut as you are going to add a lot of value to the company.
Congratulations, Matt. I have followed you for a long time and I will continue to do so. Will you still post to Google+? If you haven’t already done so I would recommend you reading the #1 book about change “Who Moved My cheese” by Spencer Johnson. I’m retired now but it helped me a lot when I was in the corporate world.
Read it years ago Jerry, but it may be time to re-read. Thanks!
That 1-ply toilet paper will get to you. All the best, see you around 🙂
Wow, that’s a big step! Wish you all the best!
P.S.: Change the “About the Author” section 😀
Congratulations Matt… I’ve been with OnOne since their inception… Great product and company.. I know you will bring and receive a lot of success to and from the position! Best of luck, health, and prosperity.
Good luck Matt, I am sure that your choice was a hard one. I have been following you on NAPP since you started and I have seen you at many live events. (Member since 1991?) I am excited for you and hope you do excellent, I am sure you will! KeblyOne is going to have a huge hole to fill, but they are a class act and I am sure they will be fine. I will be excited to see where this takes you. As I love the OnOne products and use them, I will see you around.
Thanks and best of luck!
Eric
Nest of luck to you Matt! Can’t wait to follow along on your journey. You got this!
This is why I love photography, everyone in the industry, amateur and pro alike are like a family and seeing the posts of well wishes and the feeling of knowing Matt and other photographers in a personal way you would never see that in other industries. 🙂 Best of luck to you Matt and I’ll be following your teachings as you move. Cheers.
Good Luck in your new position Matt. I look forward to your creativity being added to the Perfect Suite team. Hope to see some killer training videos n the future.
Don’t stop traveling too much. Would love to see you here on the West Coast. Oregon has such beautiful landscapes to photograph. Congrats and good luck on your new position. Change is always a bit scary but oh so exciting. I have always loved your teaching style and onOne so I can’t wait to see where they (and you) go with this. And I can’t wait to see you in Oregon!
Does this mean you won’t be in San Antonio in December?
Hey Cynthia – I’ll still be doing the seminar in December. See you there!
I wish you nothing but happiness and good luck in your future. onOne makes killer apps, so it’s the perfect place for you. I will keep following you here, and you still are one of the persons that I have learned the most from, of course through Kelby Media.
Congratulations, Matt. While I am little more than a casual K1 user, I will most certainly miss you and Scott and your witty back-and-forth on The Grid.
Best of luck at OnOne! They’re definitely getting a huge asset. Hope they realize it!
I’ve always enjoyed, and learned much from your blog, training videos, etc., and have no doubt that you’ll be a tremendous influence for the future of OnOne. Good luck!!!
Congratulations! I’ve always loved your training and I’m certain you bring great energy to OnOne! Had to be the most difficult of decisions, but.;..onward!
Congrats!! So will you immediately quit doing Kelby One seminars?? I was supposed to see you in San Antonio and was looking forward to it.
Hey Scott. I’m still doing the San Antonio seminar so I’ll see you there 🙂
Awesome! Am so looking forward to seeing you in San Antonio! Will you show off some of OnOne along with Lightroom?
Hey Evan. There’s just a short time during the day where I demo how plug-ins work with Lightroom and I’ve used onOne’s Perfect Effects as the demo for that for years. That’s about it though. It’s a Lightroom day so I pretty much concentrate on that.
Thanks
Oooh….VP, nice. Wishing you the best of luck and I’ll be sad to not be able to say, “good to see ya” when I stop by. But when I do see you I’ll be sure to be glad to see ya. All the best with your new endeavour Matt.
lol! 🙂
Thanks Donna
Congratulations Matt, Always tough to make life changing decisions and especially if you have a family to worry about also. Very glad you are going to still be visible to us photographers in the world that aren’t world renown as many you hang out with, you make an impression on us with your work and personality and I for one like both of them, welcome to OnOne!
Wow! OnOne is lucky to have drawn you away from the Kelby Media Empire!
I’ve always been a big admirer of your work, Matt – both photography and post processing, and your teaching methods are the bomb!
As a big fan of OnOne’s products, I look forward to seeing your contributions. Congratulations on this milestone!
Face it….nothing will help the Buc’s….
Congrats on the move. As I recall, you used to be a software developer.
Thanks also for the insight above regarding Nik.
Congratulations & good luck with your new adventure. You will be missed on The Grid. I have learned a great deal from you about Lightroom, Photoshop and landscape photography. I’m a current user of OnOne software, which I love, and look forward to learning more from you about it. Again, Good Luck with your new Adventure! Hope to see you at another seminar.
Bill Araujo
Best of luck Matt. onOne is an excellent product and the UK team are awesome. Met Bob Campbell and his family a few times now. Lovely people. The UK has a north of London by the way so check us out sometime 😉
Thanks! Been chatting with Bob in the last few days actually about maybe getting over there. Hope to see you soon!
Good luck – can’t wait to see what wonderful things come out of your new position w/ OnOne!
Where do I apply for your old job?
Wow, big move Matt. You are the reason I discovered Kelby Media in the first place so I’m sure you’ll be sorely missed there. I will undoubtedly miss your Kelby Media contributions as well but look forward to what you bring to On One. Good luck with your new job!
The unknown is always a gamble but a change is as good as a rest. New job = new passion. Best of luck.
Good luck Matt! You will be missed at Kelbyone.
Matt,
Good luck!
Mark
Congratulations Matt,
Loved going to your seminars and look forward to what is coming from you in the future!
so you used to be a Nik guy as I still am. Since I like your work should I start all over using OnOne?
More importantly does this mean it’s back to shooting Nikon and is that the real reason for leaving, Scott found a D810 in your desk drawer
Hey Glenn – I stopped using Nik when there just didn’t seem to be a future. I haven’t seen any updates to the products I used to use (Color Efex mostly), and so it seemed that there wasn’t much in store for them. I honestly have no idea what their future is, but I know onOne is around for the long haul, they make great apps, so that’s why I made the switch a couple of years back.
And yes, that D810 may have had something to do with it 😉
Hey Matt – First, congrats on your new gig! I learned quite a lot over the years from your blog, articles, and videos. Regarding Nik, old habits die hard and I am still using it (haven’t found any compelling need to switch and it is time consuming to learn something new). You are right though that Google is going to just let it die a slow death and it is time to move on. I would love to see a video on some of the equivalent toolsets / techniques in OnOne that can replace Nik. I use Color Efex Pro 4 and can’t get away from the Pro Contrast, Darken / Lighten Center, Vignette: Lens filter. Since you now work at OnOne, you can definitely help sway all the existing Nik users over!
I was at your November 4th Seminar in Philadelphia. Of course you were AWESOME. (I was in the first row, and you graciously picked up my water bottle that I dropped.) I guess those of us at this seminar were lucky to be at your last (or second to last if you are still on for the December session) KelbyOne Live seminar.
Thankfully, I just upgraded to OnOne version 9 (I still need to install it), so I will still be following you and what you teach. I need help on how to use my OnOne product, so I look forward to any online training content you can provide. You are a great teacher.
Good Luck!!!
Thanks Steve – I remember you up front. That was an awesome crowd that day too. Very warm welcome and I really enjoyed it.
I’m not sure how many seminars I’ll be doing in that capacity. I enjoy them, but at the same time I’m going to try to cut down on travel. We’ll see though 😉
Thanks!
Matt, Have always enjoyed your ability to cut through the chaff and get to the information that is relevant!! You are a superb instructor. I love the onOne and LR combination. Rarely ever go to PS anymore due to its complexity and, in my opinion, PSCC has left the serious amateur behind and is geared toward the graphic artist and the professional world.
Congrats on the promotion and looking forward to your addition to a great onOne staff.
Congratulations Matt. This is truly a big deal. Hopefully you’ll still have time to teach a few workshops, especially out here on the West coast.
Congrats! long time fan and excited for your move.
All lies.
We all know you left cause of the zombie ninja robots.
Shhhhh!!!!
watched episode 43, interesting…….
All the best in the new job Matt – thanks for all the excellent training, tips and presets!
All the best with the new job. I’m not sure what the grid will be like without you to balance out Scott. He’ll have to find someone to fill that role.
Matt, congratulations on the new job! it really sounds like an awesome opportunity and challenge! And btw I find it great that you still make sure your family stays happy with your work choices! Good luck over at onOne!
Congratulations! I hope we’ll still be seeing you frequently.
Just what will be your primary mission at onOne? Product development, evangelist, training, something else?
A little bit of everything 🙂
Good luck! I’ve just upgraded to OP9, so I’m glad about your move. It’s a good sign of the times that you can stay based in Tampa.
OP is an exciting product. Speed is critical when going back and forth to and from a plug-in. One thing I struggle with is the gigantic file sizes returned from OP to Lightroom. Typically I convert the returned PSDs to JPEGs in Lightroom and delete the PSDs. I don’t use Photoshop – too much work. I’m hesitant to use smaller files during editing in case the image quality suffers and the layer format is useful within OP. I’d appreciate your advice on the most efficient workflow LR>OP>LR.
Wow, that must have been a hard decision to make. Choose between 2 awesome things. Gonna miss you at the grid an all. But wish you all the best!!