John+G+Zimmerman

John G Zimmerman

1) John G Zimmerman was born October 30 1927 and died 3 August 2002. He was one of Americas premiere magazine photographer. He first started out doing photography when he was in junior high school, he joined a hobby club with his friends. Zimmerman then took at three year photography course in a Los Angeles high school, where he was taught by Clarence Bach. This program was only one of a few like it in the country, it launched the careers of six life photographers. In 1950 Zimmerman got a staff job at "TIme Bureau' in Washington DC. His first assignment he demonstrated his skill split-second action shooting. While driving back from the white house with a group of other photographers two Puerto Rican assassins tried to assassinate the President Of The UNITED STATES in the nearby Blair house. The photographers heard the gunshots and rushed to the scene, Zimmerman was first to arrive and snap photos of the event since all the other photographers had locked all there cameras in the trunk. His photographs of the event were featured in Time and Life magazines. In 1956 Zimmerman caught the eye of Gerald Astor, the picture editor of the newly founded Sports Illustrated. He hired Zimmerman as one of the magazines first staff photographers. His use of unique camera placements, electronic lighting techniques, slit cameras, remote controlled cameras, motor-driven camera sequences, and double-shutter designs revolutionized how sports were viewed. in 1963 when he left Sports Illustrated he had assembled a wide portfolio that showed all his unique style of photography. From 1964 until Zimmerman retired in 1991 he worked for all the major magazines covering notable subjects of American popular culture. He had four of his time covers placed in the Smithsonian's National Portrait gallery. He also covered six Summer Olympic games and four Winter Olympic games between the years of 1956 to 1984.

3) Zimmerman is know around the world for his unique and original style of photography and how technical he was when taking pictures. He would set up photos from unique and never used angles and positions, for example when he place a camera above a basketball hoop during a game and took picture giving a whole new perspective to the game of basketball. Zimmerman's main genre of photograph was Sporting events and American popular Culture.

4) Perspective, color, depth. This is a good representation of Zimmermans work because it shows his innovation for the camera above the hoop. The light is coming from all angles because they are inside a basketball arena.

Motion, depth of field, color, perspective. This is a good representation of Zimmerman's work because it is a classic example of his work and use of perspective to capture sporting events at there finest and giving people a unconventional view. the light is coming from above and descending on to the player.

Depth of field, perspective, color, motion. This represents Zimmermans work because it is a sport shot caught in mid motion. The lighting is coming from the sun

Color, perspective, depth. This is a sot taken by Zimmerman of a football coach. From the flood lights and the camera flash

Color, depth, perspective. An example of Zimmermans innovation with camera position. From the stadium

Background 20/20 Influences 3.5/5 Style/Genre 4/5 5 Photos and Description 18/25 Total 45.5/55