John Walker. Instead of chronology of the man's life, this profile is a glimpse covering the years 1929 through 1933. Why those years? Simply because the only profile I can offer is based on the film I have and some recollections of my mother and her cousin. You see, Walker was an employer of my late grandmother, Virginia Hart Andersen.

	Virginia Hart Andersen 1898-1992

Apparently she answered an ad Walker ran looking for a personal secretary in 1931. At the time, Walker was living in Alta Dena, a small community adjacent to Pasadena, California.
They became good friends who, and as it turned out, shared an interest in photography. The film record substantiates both points! Also clearly evidenced in the film, Walker had a similar minded group of friends. During this five year period, Walker and his various traveling companions spent considerable time in the desert areas of southeastern California and traveled to places in Arizona, the Grand Canyon, the Arches National Monument, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, Sausalito, California, San Francisco, around parts of southern California — sought out old towns and ghost towns, and the list goes on. And wherever he went, he took pictures. Lots of pictures. The collection I've been working on has about 1,500 images (there likely was more that have since been lost).

Why this film record begins in 1929 is unknown. The first images in this film record are certainly not those of a beginner. It ended in 1933 because, as I've been told, Walker died. Being a native of Toronto, Canada, his body was taken back there aboard a train, accompanied by my grandmother. Beyond that, I know nothing of him other than what can be surmised from the film record. I see a man who was personable and humorous, adventurous and loved photography. And he loved his hats!

Walker and His Cameras

He supposedly was a retired banker who came to Pasadena from Toronto, made friends there and indulged his interest in shooting pictures. This time period was very much at the infancy of 35mm photography. Leica introduced what apparently was the first high-quality 35mm still camera to the mass market in 1925. If Walker was shooting 35mm in 1929 or earlier, he clearly was an early adopter. The two photos here show Walker with two different cameras. The one on the tripod might have been a 35mm format, but it looks too large. Click the right hand picture for an enlarged view of the camera. The other is a Graflex view camera. Click the picture for a link to more information.

According to a brief letter from Walker to my grandmother dated in June of 1933, he purchased a Rolleiflex camera and enlarger, tried them out and found them to be “quite satisfactory” and then made a gift of them to my grandmother. This was a side of her life that I never knew. It explains a collection of negatives and prints I have of hers that didn't seem to be lab processed. The roughly cut medium format negatives and multiple prints of the same image were a mystery until I found this letter in some of her papers of that period. I suppose her involvement in shooting and processing explains why she ended up with this collection of negatives, which are now in my care. Perhaps this also sparked a genetic connection to me that spurred on my personal and professional interest and involvement in photography beginning in the early 1970s.

Walker's photographic legacy lives on through this website and the prints I'm making, so peruse the collection, you won't be disappointed.

Charlie Osborn