Keith Dotson recognizes 20 years of the 'accidental' career that consumed his life as an artist
The art of photography is about more than simply making photographs. It’s a way of life. For photographers, it’s the life of a seeker.
Photography provides means of processing the world through a lens with a particular viewpoint and sensibility, and then translating your interpretations back to the world with a unique and irrepressible voice.
Photography creates an insatiable hunger for seeking out stimuli — the places, people, and things that energize your creative urge. The more the hunger for the stimulus is fed, the more it grows.
That's what happened to Keith Dotson in 2005. That's when he discovered the passion of photography, after years of family life, raising children, and working as a professional graphic designer who fed his creative urge after hours with painting and drawing.
A long road to picking up the camera again
Like many shutterbugs, Keith's experience with photography began in high school, where he worked as a staff photographer for the school yearbook and newspaper. He developed black and white film and made prints in the school's darkroom.
After high school, Keith graduated from art school in Houston, where he took only one very basic photography class. He later completed a communications degree at a university in Austin.
As the years flowed by, photography became only a casual pursuit as he found work in the advertising industry as an art director, got married and started a family.
In his free time, Keith fed his creative urge making sketches, drawings, and paintings, often using one of his own photographs as reference material.
The only known photograph of Keith Dotson in his high school darkroom, circa 1978-79.
Above: a contact sheet of photos taken during an art school class project.
Over the years, his efforts at making fine art were quite varied in style and quality. While becoming skilled and accomplished with his art materials, he couldn't quite find his own signature style.
Finally in 2005, on a vacation trip to Boston, Keith Dotson used his camera to make photographs with intent. The results made him realize for the first time, that photography could be his chosen artistic medium. The photographs weren't vacation snapshots. They weren't reference images for later use to make paintings. The photographs were the end product themselves.
Weld Boathouse at Harvard, Reflected in the Charles River, a black and white photograph by Keith Dotson, taken on the eventful trip to Boston that served to transform Keith Dotson's life.
A complete transformation
Practically overnight, Keith Dotson's life changed. His newfound passion for photography pushed out all other forms of art. He used his free time making photographs, editing photographs, learning about photography, and studying the work of the great photographers.
By 2007, Keith Dotson had a seller's account on Etsy, where he promptly began selling prints. In the decades hence, Keith has built an unexpected career as a professional fine art photographer.
His work is owned by brand-name hotels, fine restaurants, universities, and major corporations like Amazon, high tech firms, and more. His buyers have included Hollywood stars, Nashville music celebrities, and private collectors across the planet, from California to Canberra and Dubai to Santa Fe.
Honors have included the selection of two of his photographs for publication in an important book from Ken Burns, and an invitation to appear in an abandoned places photography segment for an Australian television travel show filmed in the American South.
A spread from Ken Burns' 2022 book, Our America, featuring two photographs by Keith Dotson.
Keith Dotson with Welsh comedian/actor Griff Rhys Jones, pictured in a ghost town in Mississippi where they filmed a TV episode about photographing abandoned places for an Australian travel show.
Now in his early 60s, Keith Dotson is far from retirement. Rather, he has said that he awakens every day excited about photography and the exciting possibilities may reveal themselves.
A new retrospective book covering Keith's twenty year career
To celebrate and take stock of this milestone year, Keith Dotson is proud to offer a new book, Keith Dotson: 20 Years of Photography, available in three formats, hardcover, softcover, and digital download.
Hardcover edition (80 pages)
Signed copies of the hardcover edition are for sale on Keith's website here, but unsigned copies can also be acquired directly from the publisher here.
Softcover edition (80 pages)
Signed copies of the softcover edition are for sale on Keith's website here. but unsigned copies can also be acquired directly from the publisher here.
Digital download edition (PDF, 195 pages)
A digital download PDF is available for immediate download for $7.99. While a printed book has strict space limitations, the totally redesigned digital download includes much more extra content, more pages, and many more images.
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