Interview with local photographer Neil Zeller
by breanna mroczek
Neil Zeller is behind the lens of some of Calgary’s most iconic and best-recognized photos, yet
he only started his professional photography career less than three years ago.
“After 20 years of bad photography, I decided to start actually trying at it,” says Zeller. “I was
always interested in it, but I was never classically trained in any way. It was always just trial
and error. When I started to realize that there was much more to a camera to help improve my
technical ability, I realized that I wanted to shoot familiar things I had shot before and just try to
make the photos better.”
Zeller started posting his photos to his personal social media streams and all the “likes” and
attention they garnered gave him the confidence to continue with photography.
“I didn’t think I’d make a career out of it, I just thought I’d sell some prints and have a side
hobby,” says Zeller. “Initially I refused the idea of photography as a career because if I turned it
into a business and ended up hating it, I’d really, really regret that decision. I loved photography
so much, even when I wasn’t great at it, that I didn’t want to risk despising it. That certainly
hasn’t been the case though. It’s a lot of hard work but it’s an amazing way to make a living.”
Zeller got his first corporate photography gig in 2012 after an unsolicited phone call from the
brand manager at Tourism Calgary—who had seen his work on Instagram—asking him to shoot
local designer Paul Hardy’s fashion. Zeller went out and bought a new lens and speed light for
his humble Canon Rebel T2i camera and searched “how to shoot a fashion show” on Google.
“I look back now and [the photos] were interesting, but it was fun and what they needed,” says
Zeller. “It worked out and they hired me for a few more things “
After fourteen years of selling corporate office furnishings, Zeller quit his day job in 2013 to
work on photography full-time. As his job was winding down in June, he had a plan to go to
different offices downtown with some marketing material for his new photography business
to start doing corporate photography—but then the floods hit on June 21. However, the floods
turned out to be a good thing for Zeller’s photography business.
“What worked really well for me was going downtown and shooting the floods,” says Zeller.
“I went out in the middle of the night and took pictures of the first responders and the effects
of the flood downtown. The photos gave me the first real bump in my social media following—I
went from having a few hundred followers to having thousands by being one of the positive
voices of the flood. It was a pretty dark time, and I had people tell me that I had provided hope
for them during a time of many unknowns. Calgarians really banded together during this time,
and the worst brought out the best. Many of my flood photos now define my portfolio.”
On July 1, 2013, ten days after the floods, Zeller spent the day with Mayor Nenshi,
photographing him at Canada Day events around the city. Zeller has since become Nenshi’s
unofficial photographer and accompanies him to events and meetings around the city. After
spending time with Nenshi, Zeller started to become known as “the Calgary photographer,” as
he shoots everything from city landmarks to seasonal festivals.
“I spend a lot of my time making sure Calgary is seen in the best light,” says Zeller.
June 2013 was a busy start to Zeller’s photography career, as that’s when he also went to a
public information session about Beakerhead. Beakerhead was just about to launch what is now
one of the most highly anticipated festivals in the city—it takes place annually in September.
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THE ESSENTIAL CALGARY 2015/16