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Member Profile:
CHARLES "CHIP" HEDGCOCK
Please give us a thumbnail sketch of your life/career.
I am a Photographer in vocation and avocation. It's a chronic condition with me, I can't help myself! My predominant area of interest is small animals and especially arthropods- insects, arachnids, crustaceans, millipedes, centipedes- the things most people step on!
I attended Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California, graduating with a degree in commercial photography. I then spent several years working odd jobs. Eventually I landed a job as a photographer in the BioMedical Communications Department at the University Medical Center in Tucson, probably my luckiest break! It was very fertile ground for me. It meshed well with my commercial training and really helped me grow as a photographer. I learned an enormous amount about photography in the few short years I spent working there.
When folks discover that you are interested in bugs they start bring you things they find in their homes! They'd say something like "I couldn't kill it so I brought it to you!" So while at the Medical Center I began experimenting with photographing these live animals in the studio. To me they were gorgeous and fascinating, like little jewels. Photography is "painting with light" after all and I found that the controlled conditions of the studio allowed me to paint with a fine brush rather than a bucket, helping me to capture that jewel-like quality. Since many of these animals came from an urban environment, I would take them out in the yard and let 'em go when I was done.
I now work for the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Arizona. Where, to my delight, they use insects as models for their studies. I am a one-person photography/ graphics/ digital imaging center. The rest of the time I pursue my personal Fine Art and Natural Science photography, sell stock and hook up, when I can, with entomologist and herpetologist working on interesting projects.
How did you become interested in photography?
I have always been interested in art. I was an extremely poor student in high school, barely scraping by in all subjects except Art & Graphic Arts, which included offset printing and photography. After high school, I attended Pima Community College where I drifted more toward photography. I'm a bit of a Luddite; photography has never been about the gear for me. It's something about the magic in the darkroom that fascinates me most.
Probably my earliest photographic influence was Ansel Adams. Hey, it was the 70's, EVERYONE was in love with Ansel's work! Later I attended an Edward Weston show at the Center for Creative Photography. Oh man, all those stunning images of shells and peppers! Their simplicity, elegance and sensuous form really struck me. Two other photographers I discovered at the Center were Karl Blossfeldt & Frederick Sommer.
After several years of knocking around in Art department photography courses at Pima and Arizona State University, I just decided it was time to get serious. I attended Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara California, graduating in 1981 with a degree in Commercial Photography.
What has been your most interesting or favorite assignment/ situation/or person?
I've gotten to do so many cool projects; this is a hard question to answer!
One of my favorites fits all three; a fun assignment in a glorious situation working with great people! It was working with my friend, herpetologist, Dale Turner. He was conducting a long-term study of fringe-toed lizards on the Mohawk Dunes of southwestern Arizona. It involved slogging up and down sand dunes- often in searing summer heat! We caught lizards, bugs and snakes. We looked at cool plants, went black lighting for scorpions, met and worked with incredibly interesting and talented people, ate off a camp stove, drank beer while watching the sun set and slept on the ground. All the while taking pictures.... how much more fun could a person ask for!!
What is important to you?
My family and friends. the respect of my colleagues, the ability to feel like I'm doing something worthwhile and enjoyable with my life.
How have you taught yourself to adapt to change?
As I said before I'm a bit of a Luddite so change, at least the shift of our industry from silver to silicon is not my favorite thing! But lets face it, there's no ignoring that this train is leaving the station and you'd best be on it! Computers are a big part of most everyone's daily life. We use them to type letters, send and receive e-mail, keep track of our slides and negatives and now we scan film and process images.
I don't own a digital camera yet but I scan quite a bit of film, I've set up a web page and I occasionally submit work to publishers digitally. I'm learning. I' m also clinging to my roots. In fact I'm adding on to my house, building an office with a big, old-fashioned darkroom. It's going to be great! I'll have both the digital technology that our industry increasingly demands of us as well as my "stone knives and bear skins" silver gelatin technology that I still dearly love.
What are the most important things you have learned?
Patience and perseverance. That some times it's best to put the camera down and look, experience what's going on around you rather than to be consumed by the need to make pictures. Life is short and none of us get out of it alive!
What is your favorite food?
Are you buying?! I don't eat meat, other than that I'll eat just about anything! I will say there aren't a lot of foods that don't benefit from a little added jalapeno. I have companions that think spicy food has an extra pinch of black pepper in it. I travel with a little bottle of Tabasco for just such an emergency!
Please explain why you joined ASMP?
Because Jack Dykinga invited me! I had known Jack for a while, running into him in weird places, trail heads etc. One day we bumped into each other at Photographic Works here in Tucson. He and Mary Findysz were talking about an upcoming ASMP meeting and Jack asked if I'd like to join. I had been a student member of ASMP while at Brooks. I really wanted to get to know the other photographers in Tucson, to become a part of the local photographic community. I also feel like it's important to support our industry, to work as a community to solve common problems and defend photographers rights. This is where ASMP has long been at the forefront. So when Jack asked me, I signed up!
What is your current project?
It's a long-term personal project, creating fine art black and white images of the "charismatic microfauna". For me this incorporates my interest in the natural world and my love of traditional silver gelatin prints. I have a traveling show that just returned from Bridgeport Connecticut. It'll be in San Mateo California until the end of April.
What is something you would like people to know that was not asked?
You should be nice to the "fresh young faces with portfolio cases" that call on you. When I returned to Tucson in the early 80's I made a point of trying to meet every photographer in Tucson that I felt was doing interesting work. I was pretty sure that none of them were looking to hire me but I figured I should get to meet the players in town. I looked through the phone book and made appointments to meet with them, show them my portfolio and talk about photography. Most every one was nice to me. Some people were extremely nice while others seemed to be making a point of acting like I was inviting them out for a root canal!
That and there's no extra "e" in the middle of my last name, damn it!
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