Tim Grey: From Electives to Educator
Tim Grey is one of today’s preeminent photography educators, teaching sessions at photography conferences like NANPA’s 2025 Summit , (where he’ll teach a SuperSession Master Class on Lightroom Classic on May 14th). Grey is a frequent speaker on a wide array of photography topics both in person and online. His GreyLearning website is focused on video training for photographers, aiming to help them optimize their photography, processing and workflow. He leads field workshops and, for more than 23 years, he’s been answering photographers’ questions through his “Ask Tim Grey” newsletter. He’s got quite a resume!
Getting started
Tim Grey grew up in California and lived in Seattle and New York before moving to his current home, just outside Nashville, Tennessee. He says, “I photograph everything except people. Not that I never photograph people, but it certainly is not my specialty. It’s not what I’m passionate about.”
“I started off primarily with nature photography and that really was just a matter of enjoying nature.” From an early age, he liked going on hikes outside Los Angeles, and always enjoyed having a camera with him. Those hikes in the California hills also sparked an interest in travel. “Whether it’s urban or nature or wildlife, whatever it might be, I’m always sort of traveling to get to that photograph. So, in my mind, I think of it that way, even though it’s not strictly travel photography.” Later, that interest in travel led to him leading workshops all over the world.
If that begins to explain why photography became one of Grey’s passions, what about teaching? “It is, I think, a funny story,” he said. He was doing really well in high school. “I was on the Dean’s list, had a 4.0 GPA, and my guidance counselor called me into the office and said, ‘Tim, you’re at risk of being ineligible to graduate.’” Turns out he didn’t have enough elective credits. He picked photography, journalism and being a teacher’s assistant for a history teacher as his electives. Over time, he came to realize that “those classes represented what I was passionate about. Photography, writing, and teaching.”
And the rest is history? Not quite. Like many young men, he became interested in computers and, as a computer consultant, met NANPA Founding Member and Lifetime Achievement Award recipient George Lepp. Lepp needed some programming done, and then started having Grey help with some Photoshop work. “One thing led to another and I was working at his office periodically.” When one of Lepp’s staff left, Grey started working there alongside Lepp, helping edit Lepp’s articles, co-writing articles with Lepp and, eventually, writing on his own. Those articles “turned into books and once you’ve got books out there people start to know you and they want you at their events. It all just sort of snowballed.” It wasn’t long before he found himself speaking at one of the early NANPA Summits.
Playing Favorites
Everyone has their favorite places and Tim Grey is no exception. It’s the Palouse region of Eastern Washington State. “I recently led a few photo workshops out there—just a couple of months ago—and it’s an interesting, unique area. I was introduced to the Palouse more than a dozen years ago. I’ve made more than a dozen trips out to the area and have led, I don’t even know how many photo workshops out there over the years, usually two to three per year. The first time I was ever exposed to it, I was living in the Seattle area and another photographer said, ‘Hey, would you come out with me and help me lead a workshop in the Palouse?’ And I said, sure, what’s a Palouse?”
“He explained that it was the farm country of Eastern Washington State. Now, for me at the time, when I heard ‘farm country,’ I envisioned Kansas. He mentioned that it was primarily wheat fields. So I’m thinking it’s just dead flat, nothing to stop the wind except the barbed wire fence. Not exactly the most exciting photographic opportunity out there. I went into it not expecting much and frankly expecting it to be a little bit of a dud.”
But the Palouse is a lot more than just farm country. “It’s rolling hills. The most fertile area in terms of wheat production and just a remarkable, remarkable area. After that first visit, I really fell in love with the area. And I’ve been going back ever since.”
Does it ever get old, going back to the same region year after year? No! Grey says, “I always tell my students, look, I’m going to be photographing, too, because I can’t resist it. This place is fascinating and wonderful. So please feel free to interrupt me at any time. You can walk right in front of my lens. It doesn’t matter because you come first. But just recognize that I’ll be photographing alongside of you because it’s just irresistible! And it’s never gotten old for me. Every time we’re out there, the crops are a little bit different. Sometimes there’ll be fallow fields, the weather changes, conditions are different. And, unfortunately, some of the older barns and homestead farmhouses fall down from time to time. Certainly they’ve all gotten weathered over the years. But every time I’m there, I find new and fascinating photos, new compositions.”
In person or online
While his travel workshops to places like the Palouse get him out on the road, a lot of his time and energy goes into his online video classes and conference presentations. One surprisingly popular offering is “Ask Tim Grey.” He’s been publishing the newsletter almost every day for more than 23 years and, “I’m still a little bit shocked at how long this has been going on! When I first started this email newsletter I actually did not think it would last very long. Not that I didn’t think it would be popular, but I thought I was going to get to the point that I had answered all the questions that needed to be answered which, of course, was foolish because the questions keep on coming!”
Another surprise is his GreyLearning course, “Cleaning up Your Mess in Lightroom Classic.” [https://www.greylearning.com/courses/lightroom-mess] As Grey says, “It’s popular not because the software is inherently flawed. I use Lightroom Classic, myself, to manage my library of about 400,000 photos. And I frankly find the software to be invaluable in my workflow. There’s so many advantages of that catalog, but you need to make sure you understand it before you’re really putting it to use.”
In this case, it’s unfortunate that most photographers tend to be self-taught. They grab a camera, they grab a lens, they pull up software on their computer and they just try to figure it out. They tend to skip the owner’s manual, so to speak. Overall that can work pretty well but this is how we run into problems. They’ll click the import button, like the software said to, and try to figure out what’s what. I get it, learning about the catalog is not the most exciting topic.” But Grey has seen firsthand the challenges that photographers faced trying to use Lightroom Classic when their catalog was haphazardly created.
Why NANPA and Summit matter
For someone who does so much training online, what is the value of an organization like NANPA in today’s world? Why would someone want to come to an in-person meeting like NANPA’s 2025 Summit (May 15-17 in Tucson, Arizona)?
“There’s just no substitute for an in-person experience” Grey says. “Whether that’s just being able to better understand somebody’s tone of voice or read their body language a little bit better, there’s just no replacement for having a conversation in person or for learning in person.”
Early in his career, working with George Lepp, Grey helped Lepp launch the Lepp Institute of Digital Imaging, “where we had in-person week-long workshops focused on photography and post-processing.” Photographers would travel from all over the country and even from other countries for that hands-on experience. “Now,” Grey says, “things have shifted in large part to being online and streaming video and webinars and those sorts of things. And that’s all great because it’s so much more accessible. You don’t have to travel. But we’re missing a big piece by not having that in-person element.”
“When I’m out photographing, I’m usually on my own,” Grey said. “I’ve noticed this is a common theme among nature photographers. It amuses me sometimes. I’ll go out to photograph an area and there will be some other photographers nearby and nobody says a word to each other. We’re just all out there, focused on our own craft, and less interested in socializing. I know that’s not all photographers and certainly not all nature photographers, but I do find it’s kind of a recurring theme. And what I found over the years, is that organizations like NANPA and events like Summit keep you more grounded, keep you in touch with what’s going on.”
“You’re able to share ideas with other photographers, get a little bit of inspiration, keep tabs of what’s going on in the industry, what’s new and exciting in the world of technology and cameras and all those good things. And there’s a much-needed degree of camaraderie as well. There is tremendous value in having an organization with forums where you have people you can reach out to when you’ve got questions, people you can commiserate with when you’ve got an issue. All of those things I think demonstrate value. We need a place to meet and collaborate with like-minded individuals who are dealing with many of the same challenges and creative opportunities as we are.”
That place is in Tucson, May 15-17, 2025, at the Westin La Paloma Resort at the NANPA Summit. Come in a day early and join Tim Grey for his May 14th preconference SuperSession Master Class on Lightroom Classic. And don’t miss the other Super Sessions and welcome reception later that day!
