Walter Boychuk (1886-1967) worked as a photographer in Oregon for half a century, making portraits of everyone from ordinary citizens to nationally known figures, including Sen. Wayne Morse, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Eleanor Roosevelt, Lowell Thomas, and Norman Thomas.
Boychuk was born Oct. 25, 1886, at Galatia, Austria. He immigrated to Canada in 1903 and came to Portland in 1906, where he began working as a photographer around 1912. For a few years during the late 1920s, he was associated with photographer Frank I. Jones in Boychuk-Jones Studio. They did commercial photography for the Portland Commission on Public Docks, Port of Portland, and other clients. Beginning about 1930, Boychuk operated Boychuk Studio at various locations in Portland until 1949. At that time he estimated he had served 8,000 customers. He continued to work out of his farm home near Tigard in semi-retirement.
In addition to his portrait and commercial work, Boychuk also gained recognition for his architectural and scenic photography. He photographed the buildings designed by a number of prominent architects. In 1930, he was selected by a committee of the Oregon chapter of the American Institute of Architects to create a portfolio of Oregon landmarks for submission to the Pictorial Archives of Early American Architecture. This was a project of the Library of Congress, funded by the Carnegie Foundation. Boychuk also served as photographer for the subsequent Historic American Buildings Survey in the mid-1930s.
Based on his architectural work, Boychuk was named official photographer for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition at San Francisco. There he spent two months photographing fair buildings, inside and out and under different lighting conditions, in both black-and-white and color. He also was an avid mountaineer, skier, and member of the Mazamas mountaineering organization.
Although relatively little known compared with other Oregon photographers such as Ray Atkeson and Benjamin Gifford, Boychuk brought his artist’s eye and meticulous printing skills to a body of work that is among the best produced in the state.
From the guide to the Walter Boychuk photographs, 1912-1961, 1920-1945, (Oregon Historical Society Research Library)
