About CHIP

1986 - at the Last Ever Playboy club in the country - Lansing, Michigan. (Sorry for the quality, bad scan from a worn Polaroid)	Oct 98 - "You want me to take a picture of WHAT?!"	Slouching in 1991

Hello! My name is Chip. I am a single (divorced) dad that lives in Mid Michigan. Events of the divorce years have certainly been painful and educational, which has added to my already existent need for creative outlets. But that was sometime ago now, so to hell with it!

I have a few great passions, all of which involve my need to be creative. One of those passions is photography, to which most of this web site is devoted. I've had an interest in it since I was a child. Even on grade school field trips I would take along my little Kodak Instamatic 44 126 camera, which I still have. I had a black and white class in high school which exposed me to minor darkroom process, and since then it's always been a hobby.

In my early adult years, I got involved in music as a founding member of the Heavy Metal band Ded Engine. (That's me with the sunglasses!) But even through the trials of the music business I always seemed to have a camera around. I ended up photographically documenting our entire twelve years in the business, as well as even taking some of the photos myself that were used in the production of our albums, promotions, and advertising. Ded Engine was by far the largest and most educational experience of my life, and I learned many lessons concerning nearly all facets of life. I am the co-founder of the band, and for twelve years I manned the center seat as the drummer. I probably never will be able to fully thank all of the people who shared and helped shape all of my experiences, but if you are reading this right now, and are one of those people who contributed in some way to the growth of Ded Engine as well as my own being, I want to thank you for your efforts and contributions, no matter how seemingly small. They were all very important, and I treasure all of those experiences.

I also learned basic leather craft from my dad, who had a little shop in the house. Ded Engine was in the early years of leather and studs, and in those days you just couldn't find black leather and studs - at least not the serious stuff. You could find little wristbands at the head shops and truck stops, but nothing like what we wanted. I wanted a pyramid belt, like Rob Halford wore on the cover of Judas Priest's "Unleashed in the East" album from 1979, but couldn't find any. So, I made one. And some armbands. Before you knew it, requests were coming in for me to make stuff for friends. I also made gifts for friends in the media (most notably, the "Nasty Bob" armband). In 1982, ads were ran in underground Heavy Metal magazines, and Heavy Leather was born. Today I run it as a full business, taking my place at Renaissance Festivals and Fetish balls around the country.

The camera I used at the time was an old Fujica SLR that I picked up at a local pawn shop for $30. It came with a 35mm and a 50mm to 120mm zoom lens. The light meter didn't function, (nor was it repairable) and I had to give myself a crash course in exposure control, but it was good to learn it. That old camera has been everywhere with me. It's been dropped in the streets of Manhattan, had beer spilled on it in a club in Nashville, been beat around in road cases, subjected to extreme weather situations, and it still works. (Okay, it doesn't always advance the film anymore.) But I've learned a lot with that camera, and it's taken literally thousands of pictures.

In 1989, after getting married and moving to New York, I landed my first actual photo lab job at Berkey Professional in Hempstead. I had no lab experience at the time, but the lab manager took me on after seeing that I had a genuine interest in the field. I excelled in two short years, and had mastered nearly every department within the facility. I was the only person there that actually did not belong to any one department. I did everything from simple paper processing to installation of a pair of Gretag processors, chemistry mixing to prototype carding machine evaluation for the Lucht company, volume and custom printing, machine repair and maintenance, etc. Situations arose that caused my return to Michigan and I've worked at various labs in the region. I soon landed at Moto Photo, where I managed the lab for eight years. I've seen nearly all facets of this business, and I'm happy with the knowledge and experience that I can share with all of my customers and friends, to help them get and keep good pictures of their lives and memories.

During my time back in Michigan, I got involved with Tim and Deb, a High Ratings regional Morning Show Radio Team, and have been their staff photographer to this day. Of course, being involved with the broadcast media has opened the doors for many other opportunities, and this web site is designed to highlight a few of those. Many of the celebrities and shows that I've shot were directly a result of my affiliation with the radio stations. My experience with the station also opened the doors for me to document events and performers for the likes of the Michigan Festival and the Common Ground festival that runs every year.

My passion though is photography of fantasy imagery. Things mystical and dark intrigue me, and there's nothing I like more than today's Goths. A passionate and colorful way of life, and I'm just mesmerized by the look and imagery of the people.

I am, of course, for hire as well. I care about the photographs I take, and I'm not one of those photographers that won't talk to you unless you have X amount of dollars (I know MANY photographers, and I know how they do business). I think of myself as the poor man's photographer, because I think everyone should be able to have a photographer come in and record some moments for them without selling their soul. Although my basic recurring gigs have been for the radio stations, (doing everything from Client Appreciation Parties to live remotes to New Years celebrations), I've also been 'hired' to do pictures at unique functions that don't usually have a photographer present, such as college dorm, frat, and sorority parties, on the spot quick portraits, accidents, storms, peoples homes with unique weather happening in the background, people having photographic presents made for their boyfriends and girlfriends, people having 'revenge' pictures taken (some of those were quite interesting), biker outings, underwater, spokes model contests, beach parties, you name it, if I haven't taken a picture of it yet, I will eventually because I like to, so you might as well have me do it!

Of course, I am perfectly capable of doing the standard sessions as well, such as sports team photos, senior portraits, bowling league pictures, smaller weddings, pet portraits, employee of the month, automobile restoration, etc.

Another passion is tracing my family history, to which I have another website devoted to. I have over 1000 names to date, and have met many relatives both young and old that I've never known.

I was very fortunate to have been brought up in a classic loving family. My brother and I had our natural parents at home, we took family vacations, visited our elderly great grand parents on holidays, and so forth. I met the most gorgeous woman on this planet during my musical years who became my wife. Later she gave me a wonderful daughter. Sadly, the phrase "be careful what you wish for..." is so true. Although she's always liked to dabble with them, My ex-wife allowed her life to be controlled by crack cocaine. Right before the divorce she turned into a prostitute. After years of trying to keep my promises and help her get off of the drugs, I couldn't take it, and had to get our daughter out of an environment that was growing more dangerous by the day. As of this writing, the divorce has been final for nearly two years, and all indications are that she is still a hooker somewhere. I have full custody, and the little one is doing well.

Family is important, I've always felt that. Vows are important, and I took mine seriously. But there came a time when I realized that even though I promised "...for better and for worse, in sickness and in health...", it doesn't work when only one of you is trying to stick to them. If you are in a situation like mine was, where a loved one was destroying themselves and wouldn't let you help, then get out. It will be painful to stay, and painful to leave. But with leaving, you can heal and move on. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Click here to see a photo gallery of my ex wife through the years -- from beauty to near death.

Personal Profile