PHOTO:
The Past, Present, and Future // What is Walker?
History of Walker // Shot on Various Cameras
What is Walker?
This is an ever-evolving question that I’ve been thinking about for some time. The original idea was that Walker would be a skate company, one that looked at and highlighted the everyday skateboarder. It wasn’t about making it big; it was about building a platform that friends and homies could be a part of. The shirts weren’t expensive, they were hand screen-printed by me in my college art studio, and pretty much only friends wore them. After creating a few shirt designs and doing an artist collab with my roommate, I began drifting into the world of sewing. I started making 4-point beanies, chalk bags, backpacks, tote bags, and other random things. Eventually, I began throwing the “Walker Skate Co” script on all of it because I felt the things I was sewing had the same feel as the t-shirt designs, not complicated, just a few colors, but bold designs with simplistic artwork.
During that time, I was also getting more serious about becoming a professional photographer after college, specifically in action sports like snowboarding, skiing, skateboarding, mountain biking, and surfing. I had started spending more time outside and started figuring out that there was something out there to find. Before, it had mainly been skating and snowboarding, but after finding climbing, biking, splitboarding, surfing, and just being outside, I wanted to start documenting it all. Much like Walker Skate Co, it became a way to bring everyone and everything we were doing onto a shared platform.
As time went on, photography began to take up most of my time, with snowboarding photography becoming the main focus. The weekends I used to spend sewing or printing shirts turned into long trips around the PNW, lapping resorts, skinning in the backcountry, climbing, hiking, and surfing around Olympic National Forest. I hadn’t quit making clothes and bags, but the goal had begun to change. Rather than creating a brand or clothing company, I wanted to design garments that fueled my passion for snowboarding photography. For example, I wanted a snow pant with the baggy style that was popular, but with the functionality to perform on the skin track and breathe in a way those adventures demanded. Since nothing like that existed, I made it. A lightweight, simple design with clean features, but bold style and purpose. Thus, the Walker pant was born after a few iterations, a black, 3-layer Gore-Tex pant, with just enough bag to be stylish without limiting movement on the skin track or while shooting photos.
After creating this pant, I experimented with fleeces and a few other winter garments, but eventually sewed less and less. I already had the pants I needed, and my focus was on photography and spending as much time outside as possible. At that point, Walker, as it had been, went into hibernation.
In the back of my mind, though, Walker wasn’t dead, it was just waiting for the right purpose. During this “hibernation,” I still used the logo, putting it on my personal stuff as my tag. If I saw something with a Walker sticker on it, I knew it was something I’d created or owned. Over time, I realized I wanted Walker to be more than a skate company. It had started to encompass what I thought was rad, a part of my identity and style. It became a collection of the things I valued.
Over the next three years, the logos morphed but always kept the name Walker, one of my middle names. The logo started as hand-lettered “Walker Skate Co,” which I then used for screen printing. Later, I made hand-screened tags for the chalk bags and other sewn pieces. But as I started putting the name on more things, “Walker Skate Co” didn’t always fit, so I dropped the “Skate Co” and kept just “Walker.” Around the time I made the Walker pant, I refined the logo, still based on the original hand-drawn script, but updated into what it is today.
As I grew as a photographer, I began creating a site to showcase my work. Over the years, my photography reached a point where I could convey emotion, capture fleeting moments intentionally, and shoot at a professional level. With that came the desire to build a brand I could use for my freelancing. That’s when Walker took on a new identity, a metamorphosis into Walker Creative. The goal of Walker Creative is to be a studio/creative agency that brands and businesses hire for photography, marketing assets, social media strategies, creative direction, and more.
Eventually, my vision for Walker Creative is to grow beyond just myself, to bring in other creatives and visionaries to take on bigger projects and create impactful visuals and campaigns for outdoor brands. Alongside this, I also hope to release simple merch, t-shirts and hoodies with the logo.
Once Walker Creative is established as a respected agency, I plan to re-launch Walker (or Walker Skate Co) to sell prints, artwork, hoodies, stickers, and maybe even homeware or accessories. Things I use in my everyday life, simple, bold items with a lasting impact.
At that point, my vision is to create a parent company, Walker Collective, to house these ventures. Under it would be Walker Creative (the agency), Walker (the brand), and Walker Studio (an art gallery and studio space). The studio would give artists a place to create and share their work, while also collaborating with Walker Creative on campaigns. Though separate, all three branches would support and grow alongside one another.
That’s the vision for Walker as it stands today. I don’t know the exact roadmap to make it happen, but I know what I want it to be: Impactful. Bold. Simplistic. Authentic. I want to create visuals, share feelings, and be part of something that makes people get up, walk out the door, and experience what the open world has to offer.