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Chehalis Hegner Photography
Witness at the Precipice:
Photography is meaningful to me because it allows me to be a witness: a person who is present and willing to observe consciously, without judgment. Working from this point of view ignites a fundamental process of change. While our society structures life as a fragmented experience, making pictures addresses a basic need of mine to work toward a state of unity. Whether in the genre of self-portraiture or while working with a subject, photography has shown me a place of inner vitality infused with the possibility of discovery. Though I often use props such as wigs or gloves, I am not interested in creating fantasies, per se, except where these enactments help me to behold a larger truth. When an authentic experience of witnessing occurs, there is great purpose in the act of seeing. For me, it has been a mostly quiet journey, punctuated by the sound of my camera’s shutter; illuminated by those rare moments of bright realization, where pathways long closed were at once opened before me and new.


