Chester Walter Maydole was born in Absecon, New Jersey, near Atlantic City in 1923. After serving in the Army, in 1947 he moved to Los Angeles to attend Jepson Art Institute, majoring in Fine Arts, on the G.I. Bill.

He had some success with his paintings and serigraphs (silk-screens) winning Purchase Prizes and receiving commissions to do paintings and prints for set decorations. He also worked at Lockheed and Douglas Aircraft for the next ten years as a jig maker.

While visiting the Paramount and R.K.O. sets he became interested in photography and started studying portrait techniques on his own. He would practice on his neighbors in Laurel Canyon, among them Clint Eastwood and Warren Oates. Around 1960 he was working full-time doing portfolio pictures for models and actors.

In 1962 he began attending studio premieres and parties photographing celebrities for all the major fan magazines, freelance and on assignment. This led to him being hired by publicists to photograph their clients for promotional events, T.V. shows and Specials. In 1966 he did the stills for "Nevada Smith" with Steve McQueen, directed by Henry Hathaway.

In addition to Fan magazines, over the years his work appeared in Time, Newsweek, Evergreen, (cover 1971) Popular Photography, foreign agencies, publications around the world. His work also appeared on many album covers.

He also continued to do portfolio work for models and actresses in exchange for Glamour photos, which were sold worldwide.

In 1968 he became interested in filmmaking and was hired to do documentary on a film being made about the Maharishi, in India. He also made a background documentary for the film "The Moonshine Wars", in Kentucky. This led to him being hired by John DuPont to make educational documentaries on wildlife and Olympic swim teams. He also made a documentary on the Navajos and tribal leader peter MacDonald in New Mexico.

In 1974 he left Hollywood and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico and was the photographer for the International Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe, photographing their collections and archiving their historic photos. He died in 1977 of a heart attack at 54, in Santa Fe.