When he was 23, Michael Harker set his sights on owning an art gallery by the time he was 60.

He made it with six months to spare.

Harker, 59, opened Orange Crate Gallery at 310 Third St. SE in downtown Cedar Rapids last month. The gallery offers his photography as well as selected works by other Iowa artists, photographers and sculptors.

Harker also stocks books published by the University of Iowa Press that feature his photographs, including “Harker’s Barns: Visions of an American Icon;” “Harker’s One-Room Schoolhouses: Visions of an Iowa Icon,” and “Still Standing: A Postcard Book of Barn Photographs.”

A new book published by WDG Communications in Cedar Rapids, “Iowa’s County Courthouses,” will be coming out later this month.

“My career was professional photography for 38 years,” Harker said. “I grew up in the Quad Cities and my career began there after I got out of the army in 1972.”

Harker worked in the Quad Cities until 1979 when he moved to Minneapolis for a couple of years. With the goal of becoming a corporate photographer for a Fortune 500 company, he figured that working in a large city would provide him with the necessary skills.

Harker came to Cedar Rapids in 1986 when he joined Rockwell Collins as a corporate photographer. When the company eliminated its graphic services department, Harker worked as a freelance photographer and held some odd jobs for a couple of years, including relief mail carrier.

“In 1997 I joined the University of Iowa’s Department of Ophthalmology as an ophthalmic photographer,” he said. “It’s a highly specialized field and our department was considered a model for ophthalmic photography in the United States.”

When a new department chairman wanted all ophthalmic technicians certified in the field, Harker transferred to UI’s radiology department. He worked as a photographer until his position was slated for elimination in June 2009.

Harker was offered early retirement with five years of benefits, making it possible to consider opening his long-awaited gallery.

The JumpStart Rental Assistance Program will reimburse Harker for his first six months of rent, enabling him to get through the winter and get the gallery established.

“I think downtown is hungry for some culture,” Harker said. “As a professional photographer, I have about 30,000 images in my archive. I’ve traveled around the world with the army and on my own, have taken some interesting photographs, and people seem to like them.”

Orange Crate Gallery, named for Harker’s handmade replica crates used for display, is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. He is reserving Monday to continue working as a professional photographer.