Mike’s Mission

Being more photographer than commercial enterprise, I am committed to providing attentive, personal service regarding my work.  I strive to offer images that elicit a sense of wonder, at least as satisfying as the feeling I get when I permanently capture a magical moment at the edge of another world.

© 2017 Mike Walsh Photos

© 2017 Greg Jahn Photography

© 2022 Mike Walsh Photos

BACKGROUND:  

My father was a diplomat, so I grew up living and traveling overseas.  As an avid fan of visual and performing arts, he introduced me to photography on my twelfth birthday in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, when he gave me a Yashica twin-lens reflex camera, the kind with the viewfinder at the top instead of the back.  It started me on my mission, and my dog was my first subject.

© Mike Walsh Photos.

The first camera I bought was in 1983, a new Nikon FE2,  a manual-focus.  I loved it and used the hell out of it, landing my first shooting jobs in sports, fashion, and weddings, and my first magazine cover with a landscape shot in 1987.

Galen Rowell was my first inspiration in photography.  In 2003, I befriended another inspiration, the top Bolivian nature photographer, Willy Kenning, who convinced me to try medium-format.  So, I bought a Mamiya 645AFD body and four lenses (35mm, 45mm, 80mm and 105-210mm).

Since digital scans of medium-format film still yield superior resolution, I still shoot film, mainly for landscapes.  But in 2012, I finally bought my first digital SLR (a 16MP Nikon D7000) with 18-200mm zoom lens.  I’ve since added a 24MP Nikon D750 SLR with 24-120mm lens, now using the D7000 with a 150-600mm lens for wildlife shots.

I moved to Boise in May 2014.  A year later, at a campsite in the middle of nowhere, Utah, I met a well-established fine art photographer, Greg Jahn.  He’s also a Boise resident shooting medium-format film.  (What are the odds?)  Greg’s web site is further confirmation that Boise was the right choice for me.  Of all the types of photography, shooting landscapes of the American West is now my main interest.

DEDICATION:

This website is dedicated to my late father, who introduced me to this world and another…

George T. Walsh at age 31 in India, 1956.         © Mike Walsh Photos, all rights reserved.