35+ years of photography experience
I photographed Richard Nixon in San Francisco during his 1972 campaign. I’ve photographed four presidents altogether.
Photographing regular folks enjoying life is the best part of being a photographer. Copyright Port Townsend Leader.
I took this photo of an illegal whale hunt from an airplane at 4,000 feet for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in September 2007.
Contact Barney Burke
Feel free to call day or night:
360-379-4081
Email (click link below):
Snail mail:
P.O. Box 668
Port Townsend, WA 98368
Recent publications
My photos have appeared in the print or online editions of these publications:
Awards
Recipient of 32 awards from the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association since 2001.
Recipient of the Paul Conklin Memorial Photography Award, Port Townsend Photography Club, the Kathy Dempsey Memorial Award, Allied Arts Association, and a first place from the Northwest Cultural Council in 2008.
See Recent Exhibitions for photos juried into galleries and other venues.
The photos of the Aldrich’s Market fire were entered for the Pulitzer in 2004.
Stock photos
•Architecture
•Blue line highways
•Bodie, Calif.
•Classic cars
•Maritime
•Musicians
•Nature
•Neon signs
•Port Townsend, Wash.
•Seattle, Wash.
•“Urban grit”
Availability
I’m located on the Olympic Peninsula, about two hours from Seattle.
Schedule permitting, I’m happy to travel for photo assignments. I’ve also been known to rustle up a chartered airplane to capture breaking news.
Please note that I’m not usually available on Mondays or Tuesdays.
Equipment
I shoot with a state of the art, professional-grade digital SLR (single lens reflex) camera, the Canon 5D. It has 12.8 megapixels and a full-size imager, which is necessary for true wide-angle photography, particularly when doing architectural images.
My lenses are Canon “L” series professional-grade models. The effective range of these lenses is from 15 mm to 1,280 mm, including the 85 mm f/1.2 lens for nightclub and portrait work and the 24 mm f/3.5 tilt/shift lens for capturing tall buildings without distorting the perspective, and a 15 mm f/2.8 “fisheye” for capturing a 180-degree perspective.
Alas, it’s the eye – not the camera –that creates a great image.
Purchasing images
Most photos on this website are available for licensing or purchase, and all are copyrighted. Photos taken for The Leader newspaper are available only from The Leader. Call 360-385-5100 or go to www.ptleader.com.
Aldrich’s Market Fire
Aldrich’s Market was one of the oldest continuously operating grocery stores in the US when it burned on August 4, 2003.
The fire – set accidently by some teens playing with matches in a recycling bin – started in the wee hours of the morning. Fortunately, no one was hurt, not even the man in the Puget Sound Energy “bucket truck” trying to disconnect electric lines when the building collapsed. Nonetheless, the whole town felt the loss of a special places that meant “community.”
The market has since been rebuilt and continues to be the heartbeat of Port Townsend’s Uptown neighborhood. Above it is First Federal Savings and The Vault Coffee Shop.
These youngsters are enjoying a snowy day in Port Townsend. Copyright The Leader.
Aldrich’s Market fire, Aug. 4, 2003. Copyright The Leader
Washington gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi campaigns in 2004. He ran again in 2008. Copyright The Leader.
The Steel Electric ferry M/V Quinault, built in 1927, gets a new stern tube at Todd Pacific Shipyards in 2007. Copyright The Leader.
Muralist Jim Mayo in his Port Townsend studio. Copyright The Leader.
World War II veteran Jack Caldwell pays his respects to his father, a World War I veteran, at Fort Worden Cemetery in Port Townsend. Copyright The Leader.
Here’s Vice President Joe Biden in Tacoma, Wash. on Oct. 19, 2008, just before the historic Nov. 4 election. He appeared in Cheney Stadium with Gov. Chris Gregoire and Washington Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell.