KENOSEE LAKE - Douglas E. Walker’s photography can be found prominently displayed on many living room walls in the region.
Walker was raised in Northgate with his father being the CN Rail station agent. The family, including father Marshall and mother Catherine, moved to Oxbow when he and his twin brother Jim started elementary school. Pat Hill is his only sister.
Walker enjoyed school and played hockey and basketball. In Grade 10, after a visit to his guidance counsellor, it was determined that he wanted to become a photographer.
Entering Grade 9, students had to enroll in industrial arts with four classes being taught: woodworking, plastics, drafting and photography. By the end of Grade 10, Walker was permitted to work exclusively with camera and film. During high school, Walker had a darkroom in his parents’ basement. He was the co-editor of the Oxbow yearbook and in 1976, his graduation year, he was class valedictorian.
After studying for a year at the University of Regina and working at West’s Studio in Regina, Walker decided to enroll in Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) in downtown Toronto. He dropped out of the four-year photography program in year three after being introduced to British photographer Peter Croyden.
Walker gained valuable work experience under Croyden and for a couple of years was thrilled to be employed as an assistant, earning respect, and acquiring valuable contacts along the way. It was extremely hard work with long hours and little pay. He started knocking on doors, back in the days when there weren’t any cell phones.
In 1984, he was finally rewarded with his first editorial assignment with Canada’s Saturday Night Magazine, and Walker Photographer Ltd. was formed.
Walker specializes in location advertising photography. In 1993, he was referenced in a prestigious New York City publication, Creativity Magazine. Patricia A. Riedman wrote, “Though Doug Walker has a way with mountains, rivers, sunsets, and other outdoorsy kinds of things, he doesn’t shoot landscapes, he shoots locations.”
From the mid-1980s through the 1990s, Walker crisscrossed Canada. He quickly built his career on a string of extremely successful national and tourist campaigns directed to audiences in the United States. After a successful campaign with Alberta Tourism, Walker was prepared to present himself onto the next level. It was in the United States that his career blossomed, landing many large deals with multinationals including big pharma, energy and automotive companies. Later in his career, he also signed a contract with Saskatchewan Tourism and many local residents have this work adorning their walls.
Walker’s photographs are featured in a number of well-known publications including Life, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, and People magazines. His work has graced the front covers of Outdoor Magazine and Reader’s Digest. His photography has taken him to Europe, Australia, the High Arctic, the Caribbean, Hawaii and Mexico. His favourite cameras were Nikon, Hasselblad, and Sinar.
In 2003, he decided to move home from Los Angeles and purchased a leasehold property at Kenosee Lake. With too many agents, accountants, etc., Walker decided to move on at an early age.
Walker is thoroughly enjoying retirement, although he doesn’t like calling it that. He has a one-year-old yellow Labrador named misMolly that keeps him extremely busy. He enjoys cooking and loves the freshness and wide-open spaces of Moose Mountain Provincial Park. Walker enjoys visiting and reminiscing with numerous friends from all over southeast Saskatchewan.
While walking his Lab, he sometimes takes pictures with his iPhone, and vivid memories of past camera shoots start flooding back.
