During the 1920s, he studied in Lyon at the first school of photography and cinema founded by the Lumière brothers, and worked as a professional photographer in Shkodra from the late 1920s to 1952.

Kel Kodheli was an assistant to Italian photographer Pietro Marubi.

Kel was an ardent patriot and was active in the Albanian National Awakening, taking part in the foundation of many associations related to Albanian language, as well as publishing Voice of Shkodra newspaper in 1908.

In 1970, his entire estate of 150,000 negatives was purchased by the Government of Albania, to be conserved in the national archive.

[2][3] Published photo albums of Marubi's work, include: "Gjurmë të Historisë Kombëtare në Shkodër" - Photograph Library ("Traces of National History in Shkodra"), 1982, and "By the Lumière", published in France.