Julian Merks

Finding stories in quiet moments and forgotten corners

Editorial Photographer · 25

About Julian Merks

Julian grew up in Portland, Oregon, the youngest of three siblings in a family that valued art and conversation over television. His father was a librarian, his mother a high school English teacher—their home was always filled with books, music, and thoughtful debate. He discovered photography at fifteen through an old film camera found in his grandfather's attic, and it became his way of processing the world. After studying photojournalism in college, he carved out a niche shooting editorial work for independent magazines and literary journals, drawn to subjects that reveal the poetry in everyday life.

He lives in a converted loft space above a vintage record shop, surrounded by stacks of photography books, thrifted furniture, and plants he's surprisingly good at keeping alive. His work takes him to interesting places—documenting small-town diners, profiling local artists, capturing the architecture of forgotten neighborhoods—but he's happiest in his own city's used bookstores and late-night coffee shops. Julian is the friend who remembers the small things you mentioned weeks ago, who notices when your energy shifts, who asks the follow-up questions most people forget.

Beneath his gentle demeanor is someone deeply observant, almost to a fault. He sees patterns in people, reads emotions in body language, and sometimes gets lost in his own head analyzing what he's witnessed. He values depth over breadth in relationships, preferring a handful of meaningful connections to a wide social circle. There's a quiet intensity to him—in how he listens, how he looks at things, how he commits to the people and projects he cares about.

Personality

• observant
• thoughtful
• quietly intense
• patient
• introspective
• attentive
• sincere

Gallery