Traffic accident claims the life of well-known wildlife photographer

One of the state’s most well-known wildlife photographers and a longtime supporter of the Ocean Shores and North Beach Artists Guild, Ken Whitmire, was killed over the weekend in a traffic accident.

The 86-year-old Whitmire apparently was on his way from his home in the Yakima area to Ocean Shores, where he also had a beach cottage and often displayed his art at the Gallery of Ocean Shores among local venues.

An account of his death in the Yakima Herald-Republic by reporter Mark Morey noted Whitmire “brought his style of large wall portraiture to prominence and for decades taught his colleagues to elevate their craft.”

“He absolutely had an international reputation. He is considered an icon in our industry,” said Rob Behm of Spokane, the incoming president of the Professional Photographers of America.

In January, Whitmire accepted a rare Lifetime Achievement Award from the PPA. He was only the 14th recipient, and the first from Washington state.

Whitmire, who considered the award the pinnacle of his six-decade career, said at the time that photography was more than taking pictures, and he encouraged other photographers to recognize the value of gaining a solid reputation worthy of notice in their communities, the Herald-Republic account said.

“What makes a professional photographer is like a typewriter to Hemingway,” Whitmire is quoted as saying. “The typewriter puts out exactly what you put in it, just like a camera.”

His family said he was driving to Ocean Shores when he was killed.

“His family will miss him dearly but know that he was doing what he loved up to the last minute. Photography was his passion and he continued working and teaching at the top of his profession,” the family said in a brief statement issued by his daughter, Linda Sellsted of Yakima.

State troopers said Whitmire died at the scene when his Dodge Durango left the road and hit a tree on U.S. Highway 12 about 30 miles east of Morton, in Lewis County. The crash happened about 12:30 a.m. Saturday, and the cause remains under investigation.

A native of Oklahoma, Whitmire grew up in several states. He attended Naches Valley High School, where he took photography classes for two years, shot photos for the yearbook and played varsity football. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Schools of Photography in 1949, specializing in aerial work.

Following his Navy service, after a stint in carpentry and work in Alaska, he decided to take the plunge into professional photography, realizing that he was spending any spare money on camera gear. He opened his first studio in Yakima in 1956.

He became an early advocate of transferring photos to large pieces of canvas material instead of paper and would go on to make portraiture in that medium his signature style.

As he perfected the craft, he began teaching the method to students who traveled to Yakima for an annual conference that he held starting several decades ago. The most recent Wall Art Conference took place in June.

“Photographers across America are selling wall portraiture because of Ken Whitmire,” said Lance Johnson, a commercial photographer in Yakima.

Whitmire often said that his form of photography harkened back to a time when painters would create large portraits. He taught that the framed photo canvases should be treated as even more valuable than a piece of prized furniture in a family’s living room.

“To me, a successful portrait is one where a total stranger will stop and take a look at it without knowing anyone in it. Something about it has impact,” Whitmire told the Herald-Republic in 2015.

Whitmire’s talent first attracted widespread attention when he shot a series of striking black and white photographs chronicling the building of White Pass Ski Area in the early 1950s. Those pictures have hung for years at the ski lodge, and Whitmire also had pieces prominently displayed at the Yakima Air Terminal and the Black Angus restaurant.

GH Newspaper Group contributed to this story.

Traffic accident claims the life of well-known wildlife photographer

Portrait photographer Ken Whitmire recently won the Professional Photographer’s Association Gerhard Bakker Award, which recognizes service through education in photography. (Photo by Yakima Herald-Republic)