Biography

W.R. Heick’s career in still photography as well as filmmaking has covered locations on six continents spanning seven decades. Born in 1916, W. R. Heick grew up in Kentucky and attended the University of Cincinnati. He married Jeanne Ridge in 1942 and after serving as a naval intelligence photographer during World War II in the Pacific, He continued his education at San Francisco State University as well as the California School of Fine Arts (Now the San Francisco Art Institute) where the studied photography, painting and sculpture under such notable teachers as Ansel Adams and Minor White. It was during this period that he met and made lifelong friends with both Imogen Cunningham and Dorthea Lange who he regards as the primary influences on his photographic work.

His fine art photography has been exhibited at:

• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
• Palace of the Legion of Honor
• DeYoung Museum
• Seattle Museum of Art
• Henry Gallery (University of Washington)
• Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology (U.C. Berkley),
• University Art Gallery (Cal State at Chico)
• “100 Years of California Photography”  (Santa Barbara Museum of Art)

These are just the highlights of a career now in its seventh decade. W.R. Heick has produced over 200 films, tens of thousands of photographs, and drank an appropriate number of martinis along the way. At age 84, with his wife Jeanne, four grown children and four grandchildren he still works in his darkroom, office and on location. When asked to sum up his prolific career he stated simply “it sure beats working!”