As Walker has been gone for over 72 years, this statement, obviously, can't be written by him. It would be presumptuous of me to think that I can explain what motivated him in his photography, so I won't try. But now that I've worked with this film for over three years, I have made some observations that I think are worthy of pointing out and will have to serve as his Artist Statement.

There seems to be several themes in this collection. First is how he seemed to see things. He wasn't a professional photographer nor, apparently, an artist in some other medium. But there is so much deliberate composing in so many of these photos, that he clearly had a natural sense for composition. The fact that this occurred at a time when photographic talent was not all that common makes this interesting to me.

Examples of Walker's Composition

Photos taken of him that showed his sense of humor. I suppose the shutter was snapped by one of his companions, but I would say he clearly was the director.

Walker The Cut Up!

Photos taken in a documentary style that are simple recordings of something that caught his eye.

Walker The Documentary Photographer

One detail of many of his "big view" landscape photos that is especially nice is the addition of people. I strongly believe he did this on purpose to help provide a sense of scale to many landscape scenes, especially those of expansive views. The added people generally were not in the foreground with a pretty scene behind, as a typical snapshot composition might be. The people more often were placed in the mid-ground or beyond. Here are some great examples.

Examples of Scale

So you can draw your own conclusions as to what was going through his head in making these photos. Regardless, he was unquestionably talented, and I feel very privileged to be able to work with these images and make them public after 72 years of seclusion.

Charlie Osborn