This Thanksgiving, I am overwhelmed with gratitude, and it is all thanks to YOU. This year has been incredible because of your generosity and the life-changing impact it created. While we organized the fundraisers, your contributions fueled everything.

Together, we didn’t just donate—we delivered hope. Because of our joint efforts, you helped:

• Support families of children facing life-threatening illnesses.
• Bring the gift of music therapy to children at places like Dell Children’s Hospital.
• Sustain a retreat center offering spiritual, educational, and recreational renewal.
• Provide vital support for adolescents and young adults struggling with addiction, depression, and mental health challenges.
• Sharing opportunities to support efforts bringing Thanksgiving turkey dinners  to families who may need a little extra help this season.

This year we raised a total of $7581! 
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

$300 to Mo Ranch in the Texas Hill Country
$3001 to Live Like Luke of Texas
$4030 to Texas Music Project
$250 Value – Silent Auction Donation to Michael James Cotton Foundation
Turkey Dinner Donations – Via Bethany United Methodist Church

Over the years, our photography business has supported so many worthy causes, making a difference in the lives of many people in out community and beyond! It was actually YOUR collective generosity that made the difference. THANK YOU all!

Kevin Gourley

Hi friends!

I just had to celebrate what an amazing year this has been so far. As many of you know, I have always considered an important part of my business was to find ways to also make a positive impact in our community. Here are a few organizations my little business has helped.

WOW! I have a particular reason to celebrate this year because we’ve achieved our best year of impact on our community through all of YOUR generosity!

$300 to Mo Ranch in the Texas Hill Country
$3001 to Live LIke Luke of Texas
$4030 to Texas Music Project
$250 Value – Silent Auction Donation to Michael James Cotton Foundation

That’s a total of $7581!
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

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Life-Insights: We have continued to support our “Life-Insights” group that meets (generally on the 1st and 3rd Monday evenings, plus occasional breakfasts)! We have donated the use of my studio space for over 7 years for this wonderful group. All are invited. It’s just a chance to connect with others. It’s my effort in “loving my neighbors” (anyone I encounter in life). 🙂 Check out the program we’re doing this coming Monday November 3rd (click here) about the “Kindness Diaries” documentary.

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Here’s a way you can help our less fortunate neighbors who are having a tough time financially, especially these days. This is something my church (Bethany United Methodist Church – Austin) is doing, delivering grocery bags filled with all the ingredients, including a turkey, to make a Thanksgiving dinner. You don’t have to be a church member to be involved in this. You can read more about it here (click here). To participate, you’d need to follow their instructions so all bags have the same items, OR you could actually donate $80 to fund one of these bags.

The need has been so great, even though the original goal was 200 bags, they are now trying to reach 300 bags!

For those who are unable to do the shopping, you can donate $80 and they will do the shopping. Donating online would be the easiest way to be involved. To donate online, go to this web page (click here).
Important – Read these instructions first (because it’s a little confusing):
Scroll to “Other Giving Opportunities” and select the “Thanksgiving Meals” option under the “Missions & Outreach” drop down list, and enter a dollar amount of $80.

IF you donate, let me know! I’d love to know about others who are helping make a positive difference in our community! (And thank you if you DO contribute!)

Many of you are familiar with the classic film “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Lots of people watch it during the holidays each year. If you remember in the final scene, George Bailey reads this note left for him by Clarence the angel:

I have never really sought to grow my business by seeking popularity or fame or slick marketing or any of the other ways that are mostly considered “best practices” for success as a professional photographer.

Instead, I have simply strived toward excellence in my photography and in teaching others, but really more than anything else, my business is about the people I serve: you.

I so totally relate to this quote by Annie Liebovitz: “A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people.”

I think that really sums up how I feel. I was not afraid to fall in love with all of you. I guess, in many ways, I measure my success in terms of all of you, my friends.

During these holidays, I have been thinking about that a lot. I am just so grateful for the past 18 years with all of you who have gone on my workshops or hikes or other adventures, or activities at my studio. And I am grateful for all of the opportunities to involve many of you in activities to help make this community a better place.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!

Thank you for supporting local small businesses like mine. I hope to see you soon in my studio or in one of my workshops, or let’s just get together for a cup of coffee or a beer. 🙂

Kevin Gourley





I have years of experience in photography and teaching. Falling in love with photography a LONG time ago (48 years ago), you might say it was my “first love.” As an avid photographer, I started out in the days of film photography, first using a Pentax KX SLR. I shot so many rolls of Kodachrome 64, Kodacolor II, Panatomic-X, Plus-X, and Tri-X, and spent countless hours doing black & white and color processing and printing.

Even back then, with all of my work with film, I was fortunate enough to also gain a lot of experience with digital imaging in college, as I was working on a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering (1980-1982). While most of the world had yet to even hear about digital imaging, I was having nerdy fun doing things like writing software to raster scan a laser over chrome-plate glass substrates to digitally generate negatives!

When the rest of the world eventually transitioned over to digital photography, I was already well versed in understanding the technology, so it was an easy transition for me.

Teaching photography was also a part of my life for years. My first photography class I ever taught was in 1977. These days, teaching photography consumes a lot of my time, in addition to doing photography professionally out of my studio in NW Austin.

I have found that my years of experience in both doing photography and teaching photography have complemented each other very well. The more I have taught, the better a photographer I have become and I have gained a lot of experience with a vast array of camera makes and models over the years. The more I have worked as a full-time pro photographer has helped me as an instructor, especially when teaching other pro photographers.

I enjoy working with photographers at all skill levels from first-time beginners to full time professionals and everywhere in between.

My main point in writing this is just to say what I have to offer to you all: experience. I have learned a lot of lessons along the way, and I am happy to share all I know with my students, and I have loved my years as a full time photographer.

Check out my upcoming classes or my private instruction options!

Kevin Gourley

Because of the pandemic, the last couple of years were pretty challenging for many of us.

I will be forever grateful for all of the generous individuals who helped our little studio survive the financial challenges imposed by the pandemic. Your response of love and help was totally amazing and humbling. During the brunt of the pandemic, our studio was completely shut down for a year, and I redesigned all of my classes to be presented over Zoom sessions. I thank all of you who took those classes during our most-challenging time.

To reciprocate for all of your kind support during that time, I also did something to help others who wanted to take my classes but similarly were experiencing financial hardships. I took a leap of faith and made my classes be priced to whatever you could afford. My pandemic pricing scheme was quite simple: “name your own price.” That worked out beautifully.

Ultimately, we got through the worst of the pandemic by helping each other. We got through this together.

I just wanted to celebrate that. I am so very grateful to all of you, my clients, students, and friends.

Kevin Gourley

I have known far too many photographers who have gotten caught up into comparing their work with others, feeling discouraged that their work is just not good enough. While it is true that this can serve as a great motivator to learn more, improve technique, and grow in technical skills, discouragement also can sometimes stifle creativity and inspiration. If you make mistakes (and we all do) don’t let that discourage you. Learn from your mistakes and move on! That is a good strategy for life in general.

I am a big believer in all artists pursuing their art simply because they enjoy it. Experiment, explore, and find your unique path in artistic creation. You don’t have to “be like everyone else.” You don’t have to enter photo contests to prove your worth to the world. Art does not have to be a competition. Yes, it IS sufficient if you are happy with the art you are creating. That is enough. Find what YOU enjoy and DO THAT.

Doing what YOU enjoy, expressing your art in YOUR way, celebrates your uniqueness and is the gift you bring to the world.

Happy Picture-Creating, my friends!

Kevin

I thought I’d share a few quotes from various wise people, some thoughts to consider:

• “The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel.” – Piet Mondrian
• “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” – Scott Adams
• “When you can do a common thing in an uncommon way; you will command the attention of the world.” – George Washington Carver
• “The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” – Sylvia Plath
• “We all get so afraid of vulnerability that we actually stop trying to do things that we are not already good at doing.  When we give up being new and awkward, we stop growing and we stop living.” – Brene Brown
• “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” – Dr. Suess
• “The easiest thing to be in the world is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be.” – Leo Buscaglia
• “It’s better to fail in originality, than succeed in imitation.” – Herman Melville
• “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” – Pablo Picasso
• “You may not be a Picasso or Mozart but you don’t have to be. Just create to create. Create to remind yourself you’re still alive. Make stuff to inspire others to make something too. Create to learn a bit more about yourself.” – Frederick Terral
• “Find something only you can say” – James Dickey
• “I’m not very creative” doesn’t work. There’s no such thing as creative people and non-creative people. There are only people who use their creativity and people who don’t. Unused creativity doesn’t just disappear. It lives within us until it’s expressed, neglected to death, or suffocated by resentment and fear.” – Brene Brown
• “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” – Pablo Picasso
• “No person has the right to dictate what other people should perceive, create or produce. Everyone should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.” – Ansel Adams
• “Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else.” – Tom Peters
• “Go and make interesting mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make. Good. Art.” – Neil Gaiman

I have a class that might help you if you are feeling stuck, not sure what you might do to find new inspiration or creativity:

Photography: Finding Your Way – Creativity and Inspiration Workshop
Whether you are just starting out in photography or you have years of experience, this class will meet you where you are and help you find new directions to head to discover your unique artistic expression in photography! Fall in love with photography, all over again!

I have always loved photography.

With my having a Master of Science Degree and a love of art, photography is a perfect combination of science and art for me.

I also love teaching. The first photography class I ever taught was back in college, which was decades ago. I have since organized numerous photography groups in the Austin area, and have taught countless numbers of photographers from beginner to very advanced.

I love helping people improve their photography skills and find their own artistic expression through the camera. In my later years, especially, I am finding great joy in that. (That’s one reason I encourage every photographer take my “Photograph: Finding Your Way: Creativity and Inspiration Workshop.“)

To be honest, I’ve never been one who is too motivated to “market myself” to impress others about how great I am. In fact, in many cases, ego gets in the way of true artistic expression. I believe we all just need to pursue the art that excites and inspires us without worrying about comparing ourselves to others.

I love this insight from Ansel Adams:

“No person has the right to dictate what other people should perceive, create or produce. Everyone should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit.” – Ansel Adams

When I look back on my career, what I remember most fondly are the experiences I have had and the wonderful people I have met along the way. In fact, I can honestly say I have really loved the people and the experiences even more than the photography itself.

I feel so blessed to have had this experience as a photographer and educator and friend to so many people who have come through the door of studio or joined me on our many destination workshops.

What I find particularly touching are all the kind and humbling words I have heard from former clients/students. Thank you for that.

Click Here to See What Former Students Have Said

I am in a perpetual journey of gratitude for my experiences with all of you. Thank you all for being a part of my life, either because you gave me the honor of allowing me to photograph you or teach you about the art and science of photography.

Kevin Gourley