Olympia native Doug Walker is a visual storyteller.
From high-quality cover photos for national magazines and mouth-watering food photography to executive portraits and award-winning architectural images, Walker is one of our region’s leading commercial photographers.
Born and raised in Olympia, Walker has had a passion for photography for as long as he can remember. “My first photo was taken in 1971 – that’ll age me,” he says with a laugh. “I was 13 years old.”
He lived near the Evergreen State College campus, where he spent hours using their community darkrooms to process and print photographs.
Walker taught himself all he could about photography. “I digested everything I could possibly get my hands on,” he says. “I used to pour over creative journals, books, and magazines, and look at images from other professionals.” He scrutinized the direction of light and how each shot was stylized.
He studied the craft on his own, and then went to Spokane Falls Community College for his associate’s degree in photography.
“I did well there, but it left me wanting more,” Walker says. He made the decision to go to the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara – arguably one of America’s top two photography schools at the time, alongside the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York.
“That was a tough transition,” Walker says, “because it’s a school that brings people in from all around the world who are really serious about photography.” He studied with people from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Korea, China, India, South America, and Central America.
But Walker adjusted to the intense, serious schooling – and thrived. “It was a passion and I could live it 24/7,” he says. “It was the place where things were happening.”
After graduating with his bachelor’s degree in professional photography in 1993, Walker returned to Olympia.
“I just love the Northwest and I love it here,” he says of his hometown. “Olympia is a great place to grow up and a great place to raise kids.”
He began working with Steve Vento of Vento Photography. It didn’t take long for regional and national clients to come knocking.
Walker’s specialty is architectural and commercial photography. “Those are the things I have passion for,” he says. One look at his portfolio and it’s clear that Walker’s talent, background, and creative eye make him exceptional to the Olympia area.
“I have a simple, clean, bold style,” Walker explains. “Lighting is king. Composition is king. Technical expertise is always in play.”
Working with some of the country’s biggest architects, such as Michael Graves and Associates, Walker has shot covers and editorial layouts for a variety of shelter magazines, including This Old House and House Beautiful.
Most of his national work is Northwest-based. “Hearst would call up and say, ‘We have this beautiful home in Central Oregon, and we’d like you to photograph it,’” he says.
The process differs for every shoot, but generally Walker does a walk-through with the architect or designer, discussing the space and the story the magazine or architectural firm – whomever the client – is trying to tell.
“I’m a visual storyteller – I tell stories with pictures,” says Walker. “And architects, when they build a building, there’s usually a story to tell, a reason the building was built.”
Oftentimes, Walker will shoot everything the client asks for, and then add something extra he sees, that was unspecified. “More times than not they’ll say, ‘This is really cool. This is really nice,’” Walker says. “That’s the creative eye, seeing things while you’re there as they unfold.”
Walker is unique to many professional photographers in that he excels at a variety of photographic styles, and does them all well – people, products, scenic, architectural, and has recently adding a family wall portraiture product line.
“If you can bring home the goods and deliver high quality-content that pleases the client, that’s the name of the game, right?” Walker says. That he has a strong following of long-term clients who have hired him for years and years speaks volumes to his ability – and likeability.
“I’ve really enjoyed reconnecting with my regional client base, because I was tightly focused on national work in my early day,” Walker says, who has been working more and more with larger companies in the Pacific Northwest.
Local clients include the Western Institutional Review Board (WIRB), the City of Lacey, and architectural firms MSGS Architects and KMB Design Groups. Walker also did the food photography for the Junior League of Olympia’s cookbook, Northwest Inspirations: Flavors of South Puget Sound.
The list of awards Walker has received is long and impressive. From the highly coveted Kodak Gallery Award and Fuji Masterpiece Award to Commercial Photographer of the Year and Best Architectural Image, Walker has been recognized in the industry as one of the best. He’s a five-time winner of the Commercial Photographer of the Year award from the Professional Photographers of Washington.
Walker is the chair for the upcoming 2012 Professional Photographers of Washington (PPW) Conference and Trade Show, which takes place at Olympia’s Red Lion Inn from March 31 through April 4 and is open to the public.
“National talent and vendors are going to be there,” Walker says of the event, which will include a print competition, auction, prize drawings, and more. “We also have the CEO of the Professional Photographers of
America, David Trust, and its President, Tim Walden.” Famous undersea photographer and former owner of Brooks Institute of Photography Ernie Brooks will also be in attendance.
If you’re interested in photography, you won’t want to miss this event. Online registration forms and more information are available here.
Doug Walker Photography
360.943.1293