Keïta developed an interest in photography when his uncle gave him a Kodak Brownie with a film with eight shots in 1935, after returning from a trip to Senegal.
In the beginning, Keïta worked as both a carpenter and photographer, taking first portraits of his family and friends, later of people in the neighborhood.
He learned photography and how to develop from Pierre Garnier, a French photographic supply store owner, and from Mountaga Traoré, his mentor.
[2] After acquiring studio space and a dark room, Keïta began shooting portraits of clients, and he eventually garnered a reputation for his style in both his photos and the way in which he shot his subjects.
[4] Another aspect of Keïta's style that led to his popularity as a portrait photographer was the "innovative use of props and backdrops" in all his photos.
"[9] Elizabeth Bigham, a scholar at Columbia University, describes how the period shaped his art, saying that, "his studio was born during the immense economic and demographic boom that swept Bamako in the years after World War II.