Thomas Kelsey is a California native who grew up in the Central Coast towns of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara before graduating from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo with a degree in Journalism in 1977. Kelsey interned at Newsday in Long Island, New York and went on to work at nine daily newspapers including 12 years as a staff photographer at the Los Angeles Times where he was part of a team that was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1983. He has published two successful books including "The Spirit of the West" in 2011. It was a 30-year project on landscape & wildlife photography. One of his career highlights was being mentored by Ansel Adams at Adams' last workshop in Yosemite Valley in 1981.