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BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – For 24 years, Dave Walker has made a name for himself as a morning show host on KAFE 104.1.
Over the years, he has worked alongside a rotating cast of show hosts to help the people of northwest Washington start their day. But once the microphones are muted, the phone lines go quiet and the show is over, Dave becomes a photographer for MyBellinghamNow.
“I like taking pictures for the same reason I like being on radio – I like storytelling,” Walker said.
Since he was a child, photography has always interested Walker. It was not until 2015, though, that he began to take it seriously and start to acquire nice cameras and gear. During this time, he began to take photos of anything and everything around northwest Washington.
“My thought was why not start a bank of local stock photos,” Walker said.
Walker began to work on his craft whenever he could, often spending time after his morning show or on the weekends taking photographs of places and people across Whatcom County. He has covered different types of events, protests, rallies, concerts, local sports and so much more. Over the last nine years, Walker has found something to photograph almost every week.
Within a few years of starting his photography journey, he was given the opportunity to take photographs at Seattle Seahawks games. As a Washington native, that was a pivotal experience for Walker.
“I felt out of my element, but I learned a lot and got some nice shots out of it,” Walker said, who photographed a handful of games both on the field and in the stands.
More recently, Walker has traveled to Austin, TX for the annual SXSW event to join the team of photographers that cover the multi-day festival.
“At SXSW, you meet a lot of professional photographers,” Walker said. “You get really thrown into the mix and shoot a lot of different bands. I learned a ton.”
Like most photographers, each shot is particular curated to show emotion, share information or just look engaging. Walker tends to take depth of field, vibrant colors and storytelling into account before snapping a photograph.
“To me, the ultimate photo makes you wonder what happened right before and what’s going to happen right after,” Walker said.
These days, most of his work is published on MyBellinghamNow.com. On any given day, Walker’s photographs cover the homepage of the website.
Walker looks forward to photographing this year’s Ski to Sea race as well as other events in Bellingham once the sun comes back out for a while.
To hear Dave Walker and the rest of the KAFE morning crew, tune in on weekdays from 5:30-10:00 a.m. on KAFE 104.1.