Kearney/Childhood Photos

"Spike" Kearney with his first bike in Sierra Madre, CA! circa:1949


Pop and Mom 1935. Dad was park Ranger at Grand Tetons National Park.

Mom circa:1934 a few years before I came along.

Pop strums the ukulele banjo at a lumber camp in the 1920's.

I hand-colored this photo of myself. It was at a park in Seattle,WA. This is a real "time machine" shot! circa:1940

Kearney, June 1941, Seattle, Washington

Pop, Phip, baby Ken, 1937.

Pop and Spikie, Seattle, WA 1938

Christmas 1946 Mom with 3 boys, Phip,Spike,Billy.

The three brothers, Billy,Phip,Spike... in their new sweaters knited by Mom. photo shot by "Pop" in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Brothers:Phip and Billy circa:1949

Big brother Phil and "Spike". circa:1939

Phil and "Spike", San Diego. circa:1958

Four nephews from my brother Phil(frnt)Ken,Phil,(bk)Andrew,Duncan,Dion.

Miss Santa Cruz, 1983

Kearney on stage of Cocoanut Grove with Miss Santa Cruz.


For a while I was shooting the photos for the Miss Santa Cruz Pageant. For many years Santa Cruz was the home for the Miss California Pageant, with a big parade from town to the Boardwalk. But that was to change with the times. I had to walk through a picket line with hundreds of women carrying candles, to get to the civic auditorium with my camera.
Santa Cruz turned from being the showplace for the Miss America Pageant to a center of controversy.

California Ranch Girls

Child Model and 16"x 20"

Here's the model with a photo of herself when she was a year younger.

Shot In Hollywood

Professional actors that were photographed in Hollywood by Kearney
Ralph Peduto from Santa Cruz, CA has worked in many Hollywood productions and stage plays. He is also a writer and producer/director.

Below are examples of various actors in the film industry photographed by Ken Kearney.



I would commute to Los Angeles, CA and set up a photography studio in a make-up artist's home. circa: 1980's

Childhood Art

Older brother Phil on the left, mom and "spike" (Ken Kearney). circa:1942


Amazingly I found a copy of the Life Magazine cover I tried to draw in 1942
Here is a Life Magazine cover I copied during the war years of 1942. I would have been about six years old.


One of my first cowboy drawings.


Big Eyes the Cowboy. Big Eyes was the title character for several comic books I invented. There was a "Red Ryder" comic influence here. circa:1949





A High School term paper on being a cartoonist. circa:1955

Kearney the Security Guard

For about five years I had to raise some money and worked as a security guard for several major Scotts Valley, CA computer firms. I could never get use to working the late night shift. circa 1994

Kearney and Gowland

Peter Gowland the world's most famous glamour/pin-up photographer and his wonderful wife Alice graciously gave me the grand tour of their home studio in July 2007! Peter Gowland was one of my boyhood heroes. I said to myself, after reading his books in the late 1950's on how to be a glamour photographer, "I want to do that!".1980 Camera Life magazine article. Peter Gowland photographs the world's most beautiful women!

Alice and Peter Gowland. circa:late 1970's


Peter Gowland and Ken Kearney, Santa Monica, California. July 2007

Alice Gowland and Ken Kearney in the famous Santa Monica, California studio.

Alice Gowland, Georgia Griffin and Peter Gowland search for the Ken Kearney blog.

Gowland checks out some negatives at his light table. Go to: www.petergowland.com for his complete story.


Peter Gowland magazines These are a few of the Gowland publications that I still have!