Northwest Hoof Prints

In Memoriam:
Duane Rikio Hamamura
Photo by Kristy Batie

    Noted Washington and equine industry photographer and horse owner Duane Hamamura died in his Auburn home of heart failure on January 29, 2011. He was 57.
    Born on July 30, 1953, in Auburn, Duane grew up on an Auburn strawberry farm. He lived his whole life in Green River Valley and graduated from Auburn High School in 1971. Duane earned a degree in photography at Green River Community College and in the mid-1970s went to work for the Auburn Globe-News, Renton Record-Chronicle and Kent News-Journal and was still taking photos for those south end area newspapers after they changed their names to the Valley Daily News, South County Journal and King County Journal. More recently he worked as a nighttime photo technician for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Though he chronicled many news worthy events in King County, his was best known for his sports photography.
    The soft-spoken man, affectionately known as “Hammer,” was a frequent visitor to tracks throughout the greater Pacific Northwest and California, and was especially well-regarded at Emerald Downs.
    Duane’s photos graced many issues of the Washington Thoroughbred, both on the cover and in featured stories, as well as most recently in the 2011 WTBOA calendar. His trio of photos featured in February, April and July are striking examples of the subjects and emotion he captured in his work.
    Highly esteemed by his peers, Duane was not only a prize-winning equine photographer – as a two-time winner of the Mark Kaufman Media Award – but set his skills to capture moments at local sports events ranging from baseball, basketball, track to gymnastics and swimming.
    Over the years Duane and his close friends Kari and Joe Toye partnered to race a small stable, which included 1996 Emerald Downs top claimer of the meet Tajun.
    Passionate about Thoroughbreds, Duane maintained a personal sports library, which includes an extensive visual archive of Pacific Northwest Thoroughbred racing, and especially of Longacres and Emerald Downs. And he made many a pinback button to commemorate a winning horse or equine event in his custom-designed specialty printing sideline.
    He also grew up loving hydroplane racing and baseball.
    As Mark Moschetti wrote in his “Tribute to Duane Hamamura: A Quiet Man Who Spoke Volumes with His Photography,” it was with soft-spoken professionalism that “Duane Hamamura’s photography spoke volumes.”
    Duane’s former colleague Dean Radford noted, “He had a wonderful sense of what makes a great photo. No matter what the assignment, he would always come back with really great photos. He captured the visual history of King County for 25 years.”
    Duane is survived by his mother, Ritsuko Hamamura, of Auburn; and sisters, Joyce Hamamura, of Gig Harbor, and Sharon Harris, of Auburn.
    Visit Duane’s photo gallery on Facebook at http://on.fb.me/i7VGX7 to view a small sample of his varied and extraordinary work.