At his core, Zak Stone is a Salem local. A great photographer? Yes. But on a much deeper level, he’s a community man.
You could tell by how he walked into the Alibi Bar & Grill in West Salem, waving to five different people on his way to the counter. The Alibi is his favorite local spot, probably because of the lively crowd. And if you know Zak, you know that he loves people.
Years ago, Zak’s reputation came from real estate. Since changing professions in the last four years, he’s acquired new prestige. Now, Zak is the guy with the cool Instagram page. His followers relish those panoramic shots of cascade mountains that he regularly shares.
“Photography is really just a passion that evolved over time,” Zak said, reflecting on his transition. Before real estate and photography, he was just a kid camping with his dad at Marion Lake.
Zak didn’t find camera work particularly appealing in those days. In high school, he even failed his photography class.
“It was digital cameras that really worked for me, and that class was only film,” he said. Once digital cameras came into the picture, Zak found the craft more appealing. Now he was able to take photos carelessly and make mistakes without repercussions. In the early 2000s, he started making Thrasher-esque wakeskate films, were he mastered the basics of angels and lighting, even publishing a few photos in small magazines.
He also started taking a camera into the Oregon wilderness, a place that practically raised him. “There’s just a soul recharge that comes with being outside,” he said, “and that’s why I love it.” From all of his nights beneath the stars, he developed an affection for astrophotography. In 2014, he bought a lens from Focal Point and planned a trip to Crater Lake to shoot the Milky Way. There, camping on the snow-packed rim of Pumice Point, he captured a perfect starry night, just as the International Space Station orbited overhead. An astronaut aboard the ISS retweeted the photo, and Zak woke up one day to his dormant Twitter page flooded with notifications. That picture toppled the dominos.
“After that,” he said, “I started planning more trips.” With each photo, his repertoire grew. Eventually, outdoor companies started reaching out for product photography.
Real estate became less appealing to Zak as his brand started taking off. Photography projects were cut and dry. There was little anxiety about last-minute fall-throughs. On a more personal level, he was able to transform his passions––camerawork, the outdoors, and Oregon––into a career.
Zak Stone Photography launched officially in 2020. By this point, his style had been realized, marked by cinematic, wide-angle frames of the Oregon wilderness with a distinct National Geographic-esque flavor. He tries to avoid heavy editing. Somewhere along the way, he also converted into a Sony devotee.
He’s not exclusively an outdoor photographer. One day Zak might take pictures for a construction company, and the next he’ll do a family photoshoot. “Only weddings are off the table,” he said with a chuckle.
Beyond photography, Zak is a man of many hats. He’s a Chamber Ambassador and MC for the Salem Capitals. Sometimes he decides to coach a season of youth soccer. Still, he makes more than enough time to take his kids on multiple backpacking trips per year.
He cites Casey Neistat (famous YouTube influencer) as his inspiration and talking with Zak, you can’t help but notice a similar energy. He’s endowed with passion and deeply optimistic, radiating a potent carpe diem spirit. He resembles those risk-taking television characters, a sort of Walter Mitty type, campaigning a fearless lifestyle wherever he goes.
For his 50th birthday, coming up in a few years, he joked about spending a month on the Pacific Crest Trail. He’s probably 90% serious about it. “My wife calls me her fourth child,” he said, laughing.
This story originally ran in Press Play Salem issue 22 (Winter 2024/25)