Ideas into action.
A brand is not something you design; it's something you earn.
Life-changing Organization
Online Education Leader
Protecting the Environment
"I believe creativity comes from exploration, and reflection. That process is applicable to business, political causes, nonprofit organizations, and one's personal life. I enjoy taking my clients on that journey."
Nonprofit boards I have helped
Carteret County Beach Commission - public relations and crisis management
Clarksville Center for the Arts - fundraising advisor
North Carolina Cyber Academy - public relations and crisis management
Parkview Community Mission - marketing/fundraising advisor
Good Sam Hospice - marketing message advisor
Central Virginia Addiction and Recovery Resources (CVARR) - branding
Renovation Alliance Roanoke - branding
Raleigh Little Theatre - member
Memorial Hall Center for the Arts - founding member
University of Missouri Alumni Association, Triangle - president
Quarterpath Village HOA - president
Thorpshire Farm - president
"Strategies are creative projects, too. They don't always involve artwork, video, writing, or production. Sometimes an idea is the most creative thing you can do," says McKay. Developing brands, designing campaigns, and finding novel approaches to solving problems are at the core of his work.
"Change is inevitable. Turning change into opportunity is the challenge."
Tim McKay is a lifelong writer and photographer. He worked his way up from entry-level roles in journalism, PR, and advertising to VP at mpiTOO, a unique agency in Raleigh, North Carolina, serving nonprofits. Savor the Ephemeral was inspired by a lifetime of observing the world through photography.
Now he wants to share his knowledge and personal experience with others. “I believe photography has made me less biased, more empathetic, and a better person. I wish everyone could examine life this way,” says McKay.
His book, Harnessing the Light, is expected to be released in 2027.
Explaining the book, McKay says, “I discovered photography at age 9 or 10 when my father took me to Greear Studio in Marion, Virginia. Standing in the dim glow of the red safelight, I watched a blank piece of paper slowly come to life in the developer tray. That magical moment forever changed my life. Sixty years later, I am still chasing those fleeting moments, even as photography technology evolves around me.
“What I have ultimately concluded is that, strictly speaking, a photograph is created by focusing an image onto a light-sensitive surface that records it for others to see. Beyond that, it’s all about the choices made by the ‘observer.’ I like the word observer instead of photographer because the term photographer implies that the sole purpose of the endeavor is to produce a photograph. Photography is so much more than that.”
"Harnessing the Light" is an instructional memoir that chronicles my life from a random discovery as a 10-year-old child to my personal enlightenment through photography.
Strictly speaking, a photograph is created by focusing an image onto a light-sensitive surface that records it for others to see. Beyond that, the process of photographing something depends on the choices made by the "observer." I like the word observer instead of photographer because the term photographer implies that the sole purpose of the endeavor is to produce a photograph. This distinction gives me the choice to create a shareable image or not. As a result, many images exist only in my mind. Some affected me so profoundly that I could not bear to look at them, while in other situations, the act of photography itself would have destroyed the moment I was trying to capture. Those images are also part of my life's work and are included in the book as text.
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