The Story Behind the Books
My work as a leadership practitioner, author, and photographer is grounded in two principles: a desire to understand complex systems in depth, and a responsibility to explain them in a way that is practical and usable.
These books bring together real-world leadership experience, workplace culture insight, and structured photography knowledge to help people achieve measurable, repeatable results.
IT Career
I began my career in technology at an early age, launching a computer sales business in my early twenties in the UK before spending 18 years in IT across the United States. During that time, I progressed to Senior Network Engineer at the US Senate and later into IT leadership and management roles.
I had the opportunity to work alongside high-profile figures including Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Senator Ted Kennedy, within demanding, high-stakes environments. Returning to the UK, I continued in senior roles across organisations including global finance and defence, gaining first-hand insight into what drives performance — and what causes it to fail.
Those experiences provided a clear view of how leadership and culture operate under pressure. More importantly, they revealed what it actually takes to correct failure at scale. That understanding forms the foundation of Leadership: The Culture Fix.
Photography Career
Photography developed alongside my technical career as a creative counterbalance. From early experience at the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon, teaching others, I later moved to the USA where I built a wedding and portrait photography business — founding Kenneth Light Studios in Charlotte, North Carolina.
I trained around 300 photographers in Charlotte, North Carolina, delivering structured teaching on lighting, posing, and editing workflows.
The wedding and portrait business began modestly, with early bookings priced at around $300 to $600 per 10-hour wedding. Through focused marketing, strong client experience, and disciplined business development, I scaled the business to consistently achieve $3,600 to $4,600 per wedding, alongside portrait sessions priced at $600 for a two-hour shoot.
Why These Books
Throughout that journey, one issue became clear: there was no single, practical resource that brought all aspects of photography together in a coherent way. Learning required multiple books, fragmented courses, and inconsistent advice.
The Complete Photography Field Guide was created to solve that problem — a single, structured resource designed to take someone from fundamentals to professional-level understanding without the need to piece information together from multiple sources.
This journey is the foundation behind all the books, and the driving force behind the ones to come.
