Carl Barks' greatest longtime hobby was Photography. Throughout his adulthood he owned a number of advanced cameras which were used for different purposes. Especially in his comic book years Barks would find interesting spots and locations to photograph, whereupon he could sit quietly at home and use them as studies for his panels thus adding great realism to the drawings*. Barks also regularly drove his wife Garé, who was a brilliant landscape artist, to locations where she could make quick sketches, which she would later use in her studio, while her husband took snapshots that he could use back home.
In the beginning, when Barks started working on his non-Disney paintings, he merely made simple photographic documentation of the finished paintings. Later on, when he began his Disney duck paintings, he would meticulously photograph the lengthy process step by step and layer by layer. This resulted in countless photos, and it must have been a proud moment for Barks, when he could finally take a snapshot of the finished product mounted in a frame ready for sale.

This page offers you 15 photos (original sizes 85x85mm (3½x3½")) of finished paintings from the early years before Barks started his famous duck paintings. The photos are presented unedited precisely the way they were shot, meaning that you in most cases can see that they were captured on film both inside and outside of Barks' home.
The codes that Barks placed in front of some of the rendered paintings reveal when they were photographed (2-69 means that the painting was the second finished one in 1969). But in those early days Barks was not all that systematic, which is why several of the paintings were never included in the code system. They are published here for the first time ever, and you should regard them as a VERY rare treat. They simply prove that Barks made more paintings than is commonly known!!!

*Examples: A vacation to British Columbia gave scenes to FC0263 Land of the Totem Poles from 1950, and in WDCS167 'Salmon Contest' from 1954 Barks had travelled to his daughter's home near Puget Sound in Washington State, where he photographed the vicinity, and the shots found their way into the story.

25-68 Last Days at an Old School	* 40-68 A Princess of the Ivahs	* 1-69 Young Pauma Savage
2-69 Daughter of the Chief	* 3-69 Mt. Cahuilla and Friend	4-69 Luiseno Seed Gatherers
5-69 With All Their Possessions	6-69 Evening Star	7-69 Red Rock Country
* 11-69 (no known title)	* 15-69 (no known title) 12-69 Rhythms of the West Wind	20-69 Hayday
* 17-70 (no known title)	2-71 The Showoff	* 12-71 Summer Pals