INNER VIEW: RICK C. WEST
Page 3 of 3 | 2005 Interview by Michael Jacobi Photo by William Lamar
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MJ: Many hobbyists are very familiar with your incredible photo archive at birdspiders.com. I know that many images were captured of spiders in their natural habitat, but others were taken of captive tarantulas using dioramas. What special challenges do each present to the photographer?
RCW: When photographing tarantulas in the field, you have little to no control of your subject or it's setting and limited time to make your images. In addition to lunging a lot of expensive camera equipment around, you have to contend with the risk of theft or damage and annoying factors like heat, humidity, dust, water, mold, biting bugs and leeches, venomous snakes, curious or suspicious people, etc. When photographing tarantulas in dioramas, or 'basement setups', although you have more control and time over a wider range of a tarantula's life stages, you have the problem of your images not looking as natural. I have to carefully study tarantula habitats in the field then try to recreate bark/lichen/moss patterns, soil types and microhabitat conditions in my diorama — it's not as easy as it sounds when you try to make a marketable image; However, practice makes perfect.
MJ: You have been asked to judge hobbyist photographs for several projects. What are the biggest mistakes you see made and what are your suggestions for improving the quality of arachnid photos taken by the casual photographer?
RCW: The mistakes I commonly see in casual arachnid photography are: the arachnid is out of focus, the limbs or portions of the body are not all in the picture, the angle is bad, and some images are made on hands or on unnatural or garishly contrasting backgrounds. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from making arachnid images as I know what I'm talking about here — all my earlier arachnid images were as bad as or worse than what I just mentioned.
MJ: I remember a couple dozen years ago when tarantula keeping was not as widespread or popular and the people I learned from directly or indirectly were people like yourself, Ralph Henning, Al McKee and Stanley Schultz. When you first started keeping tarantulas in captivity were there other pioneers that helped you along?
RCW: As I mentioned earlier, I started keeping tarantulas in the summer of 1964. At that time, my key tarantula mentors were Dr. Beatrice Vogel (USA), Mr. Robert Mackin (USA) and the now late Mr. Vincent Roth (USA), Dr. William Baerg (USA), Dr. Luis Pena (Chile), Mr. Ramon Mascord (Australia) and Dr. Cliford Carl (Victoria, Canada). Without these people's time and kind support, I would have given up tarantulas long ago.
MJ: Are there any misconceptions about tarantula husbandry that you would like to comment on?
RCW: The number one topic that drives me wild, and I refuse to keep repeating myself on forums, is choice of terrarium subtrate used for tarantulas. I will say, for one last time, that tarantulas do not live in a sterile environment. I have used regular soil from the garden for forty years and have no more mortalities than anyone else who go to huge lengths to make their tarantula's terrarium as sterile as possible — I won't even get on the subject of humid versus dry — this interview would be long enough!
MJ: If you could keep only one species of tarantula in captivity what would it be and why?
RCW: One I've never had before — for me, it's as simple as that! This is what drives me on my quests — the search for the little known/undescribed theraphosid species.
MJ: Last question: You are a husband, father, and grandfather so I am sure you try to spend as much free time as you can with family, but what other pursuits completely unrelated to your professional work do you enjoy if and when you find the time?
RCW: I enjoy fly fishing, hiking, nature photography and the pursuit of enjoying every day as if it were my last!
My sincere thanks to Rick for participating in this interview.