Faces of Kelowna: Trevor Walker Photography

Everyone is photogenic.

If you think not, you just have the wrong photographer.

Trevor Walker of Trevor Walker Photography is the right photographer.

“Most people fear being in front of the camera for their headshot or portrait,” explains Trevor.

“It’s my job to take an amazing picture, not the client’s, so I spend a lot of time getting people to relax and coaching them through expressions. It’s a totally customized solution to get the absolute best headshot.”

Trevor says the ‘magic sauce’ usually ends up to be a headshot that portrays the client as happy, confident and approachable.

After all, your headshot is the photo that represents you and your profession to clients, colleagues and the public, so you want it to be perfect.

“If people are nervous about having their headshot taken, I simply ask them why and listen,” says Trevor.

“And then it’s really just about us having a chit-chat about their job and getting them to talk about themselves. The goal is to have a good, fun and relaxing time and that’s when I start taking pictures. It’s definitely not about asking the client to say cheese every 10 seconds.”

This approach to the ideal headshot can take anywhere from two to 20 minutes.

“It takes as long as it takes,” says Trevor with a laugh.

“It’s always a customized solution.”

Oddly enough, Trevor was inspired to become a photographer after his own irritating encounter with a photographer while getting his headshot taken when he was a corporate headhunter.

“The photographer was so awkward and made me so uncomfortable and kept yelling at me to smile,” remembers Trevor.

“Funnily, the photo ended up to be good, but I hated it anyway because of the bad experience.”

That was in 2010 and by 2013 Trevor launched his own photography business in Vancouver doing everything a photographer is expected to do – weddings, pregnancy shots, family portraits and events.

A move to Kelowna in 2017 saw Trevor make the wise decision to focus solely on headshots.

“I find it very rewarding to give an individual a photo they’re happy with,” he says.

For the first few years, Trevor Walker Photography operated out of his home in the Upper Mission.

But, in early 2023, Trevor secured a 1,400-square-foot studio at 339 Bernard Ave. downtown that’s become the central go-to location for businesspeople from throughout the Okanagan and Thompson to get their headshots.

Trevor will also travel to businesses and events to take headshots of multiple people.

Trevor has shared his perfect-headshot philosophy with others so he could hire two other photographers to work with him out of the Kelowna studio.

As well, he has photographers across the country – in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal – using his techniques to take headshots of confident and approachable people.