Keith Ross is a photographer, author, woodworker and teacher in Sequim, Washington.

Seattle Refined: How long have you been creating? What mediums do you work with?

Ross: My wife Kryztyna and I started getting serious about photography right before we moved to Sequim in 2015. I had just bought my first telephoto lens, and with the first press of the shutter, I took a picture of a bullfrog in a pond, and it remains one of my best photos ever. I was hooked right then and there! As soon as we arrived in Sequim, I took up bird photography, so many birds here, and taught myself how to shoot in full manual mode. I took thousands of pictures in my first year, posted on Facebook, and gained a large following. One year into my self-taught photography journey, I was asked by the Olympic Peaks Camera Club to teach a workshop on Wildlife Photography. I wrote a class and presented it to them, and now continue to teach one-on-one classes in our studio. I was later asked to teach photo editing and wrote a class on that, as well. I continue to teach editing, in person or remotely, often as a follow-up to my photography class. Teaching is a real passion for me, and without fail, I take every student, even those who have never picked up a camera, from knowing very little or nothing to shooting full manual in just one day. I get just as excited as my students by the time we get to the end of the day when they realize they can do what I ask of them.

In October of 2017, we bought a church that was converted into a home, and we knew exactly what we were going to do with all this huge space. We converted the bottom-level main room into a huge gallery, 60 feet long and 20 feet wide, to be filled with images and art. We created an editing studio, a paper cutting room and a printer room.

The church has two kitchens, and the upstairs kitchen had no eating bar, so we bought a raw slab of live edge maple, and decided to make a dining bar out of it. I had never worked with wood before, but grabbed a palm sander and went to work on it, finished with wipe-on polyurethane, and liked the way it looked. That was the beginning of my live edge wood furniture obsession. It was so beautiful, and I continued buying slabs, stacking, and drying them, and creating all kinds of tables, bars, countertops, nightstands, headboards, and charcuterie serving boards of all kinds.

After filling our home and galleries, evolving, learning and refining my processes, I built a shop and started doing custom furniture projects for clients. I have a huge selection of wood slabs, including walnuts, redwoods, maple and my clients can pick out the wood and tell me what they want. “Pick your wood, pick your dream!” is what we put on our brochures to best describe what we do here.

My photography obsession spawned my printing and framing business, more out of necessity than anything. I am a perfectionist. I wanted the most accurate colors, exposures, and presentation and to have complete control from taking the image to printing and hanging it. So, I bought a commercial large-format Canon Pro 4000 printer, learned the science behind accurate printing, and learned how to create my own ICC color profiles. Then, I bought all the equipment from a picture framing business. I had never seen any of the equipment or even knew what it looked like. It was just delivered in pieces to my shop. But I managed to figure out what went where and then taught myself how to use it all. I mastered all the processes and I now have a printing, framing and art reproduction business as a result.

Along the way, as my photography skills evolved, I was asked to take over the volunteer role as the photographer for the Sequim Irrigation Festival, Washington’s longest-running festival in its 129th year. I had never done any portrait or event photography work prior to taking on this role in 2018, so I had to quickly learn how to adapt and perform. Since then, I have built a very professional studio in our home, with extensive lighting and a massive backdrop collection for family portraits, seniors, headshots and more. It is the best studio on the Olympic Peninsula. I recently had my most thrilling senior portrait sessions photographing Pearle Peterson in our studio. She sang the national anthem at the World Series this year and has the most incredible voice. I took this picture below while she was singing in our studio, filling the space with her amazing voice while I photographed her. It gave me shivers down my spine!

Kryztyna assists me with the photo shoots and also does all the final retouching edits on our portrait works. She has become very proficient in editing software, photo restorations, and graphic design as well. We offer full artist support services, including reproductions of originals into shrink-wrapped matted prints, framed art and even greeting cards for resale. We make a great team working together.

Tell us about where your inspiration for your art comes from.

Living on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula has inspired me to leave my lifetime career in the petroleum industry in pursuit of sharing the awesome sights I get to witness through my lens and creating beautiful art and heirloom furniture pieces for clients. Nothing beats the satisfaction of presenting custom creations to my customers, and it makes me look forward to every day.

Do you have a specific “beat” you like best – nature, food, profiles, etc.?

Some ask what I like doing the most or ask, “why not pick what you like best and just do that instead of so many things?” The easy answer is, “If I had to do the same thing every day, it would become work.” I can get up in the morning and touch various art forms throughout the day, and I get to enjoy a wide variety of accomplishments every day. How do you beat that?

We often have people ask to come visit our gallery and studios here for a tour, and we take a lot of pride in what we have created here. After they see everything we have done in 6 years, almost every time, I am asked, “When do you sleep?” I work about 14 hours a day, every day of the week, but doing what we love here every day makes it less like work and more like fun.

Do you have one piece of art that means more to you or is extremely special to you?

My statement piece has to be my 16-foot-long, single-slab Redwood Cedar dining table that sits in the middle of our gallery. My friend Ray Gibbs built the legs for it using a torch, hammer and metal rods to create plant sculptures with textured leaves and even roots on the bases. 15 sculptures make up the table and bench set! It took three of us to carry the table frame into the gallery when he delivered it. Stunning!

What experiences in your life have affected your art the most?

Thanks to my sponsoring the Irrigation Festival as their photographer, I was presented with an opportunity of a lifetime that changed my world. I photographed Jaye Moore, a retired Wildlife Rehabilitator when she was the Grand Marshal for the festival. She asked me to cover the rescue of a pair of bald Eaglets found on the ground as they prepared to put them back in their nest (aerie). I photographed the whole process, and then I wrote and self-published a story called “The Rescue of Eddie & Elliott – A Bald Eaglet Adventure.” With some assistance in layout and printing from Book House Publishing in Bellingham, I published the book in 2023 and created plush toys to go with it. I am now selling the set as a very educational, feel-good story for people of all ages.

Seattle Refined covered the release of this set in December, and it was the second most popular article of 2023, just behind Taylor Swift! The pictures and an interview with me were first published in 2019 by Scholastic Magazine, and 4 million copies were sent to every school in the country. The story then went global, and I was getting inquiries and interviews from all over the world.

READ MORE: Fuzzy eaglets that survived fall from Sequim nest star in their own book

If we want to see more of your work, where should we go to find it?

I have a very extensive website where you can find my book, videos of the Eaglet rescue, many galleries of wildlife and landscapes, examples of my customer live edge creations and my many business lines. I have something for everyone!

What is next for you? Anything you’re working on right now that you’re really excited about?

I have a busy year on tap! I am preparing for a gallery exhibit at the brand-new Field Arts & Events Hall in Port Angeles that opens Thursday, Feb 15, and runs through May. My theme will be “Life in Motion,” a collection of framed prints of Wildlife & Landscape in motion.

I am also looking forward to promoting my book across the country and doing speaking engagements at some grade schools that have requested I visit them.

As time permits, I will be doing photography tours on the Olympic Peninsula in a transit bus we just converted to a photography tour business. I can take small groups of people to the beautiful places I frequent and teach photography to anyone asking for help while out there. Equipped with an Espresso maker, propane stove, heat and 110V power, we can make it a wonderful full day in nature, pampered and fed in style! Really excited to start doing this, as I love to teach and share!

Lastly, how do you take your coffee? (We ask everyone!)

I take my coffee black and constantly, unlike you have never witnessed. People who see my works here quickly understand that statement. Caffeine powered! Just got a new Breville Impress espresso machine to keep the running strong!

About ‘Artist of the Week’: This city is packed with artists we love to feature weekly on Seattle Refined! If you have a local artist in mind that you would like to see featured, let us know at hello@seattlerefined.com. And if you’re wondering just what constitutes art, that’s the beauty of it; it’s up to you! See all of our past Artists of the Week in our dedicated section.