Following his apprenticeship, Wakeford landed a job as a cameraman at The Douglas Aircraft Company, where he was responsible for filming new missiles, planes, and classified weapons tests at White Sands, New Mexico and Edwards Air Force Base becoming one of the early experts in super high speed cinema (5,000 to 8,000 frames per second).

Wakeford's work at The Douglas Aircraft Company led him to the United States Army where he spent two years in the Signal Corp. as a motion picture cameraman in New York City and Germany.

Wakeford quickly began working for animators in Hollywood including Jose Cuauhtemoc "Bill" Malendez (Peanuts), and Hanna & Barbera.

Wakeford/Orloff Productions shot national commercials for brands including Budweiser, Mattel, Hot Wheels, Barbie, Boeing, Purina, Post Cereal, Chevrolet, United Airlines, Maybelline, Max Factor, Procter & Gamble, Rice-a-Roni, Gallo wine, Kellogg's, and McDonald's.

The Huffington Post called the cinematography by Wakeford "arguably the most original for this genre at the time and has been copied endlessly in other movies, down to his audacious tracking shots.

He also shot short films such as the "This Ain't Bebop" segment of Imagining America, directed by Ralph Bakshi and starring Harvey Keitel and Ron Thompson.