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TEXT BY ALICE B. MILLER • IMAGES BY DAVID ZIMMERMAN
Savory as a cup of fresh brewed coffee, zesty as a sparkling glass of bubbly, David Zimmerman's liquified images are making quite a splash in the ad world. His ability to capture the forceful, graceful, refreshing luminescence of beverages, baths, and beyond leaves clients like Lipton, Smirnoff, Pepsi, and Nivea tingly with excitement.
WATER WORKS
Early on in his career, Zimmerman became fascinated with the liquid
in a goblet as he photographed it. "The more I explored, the more I
saw new possibilities for a series of photographs," he says.
"Liquid became a main element of many of my photographs. It's a
challenge to capture the moment of perfect curve and
composition—to capture an element that happens too quickly
for the eye to see under normal conditions."
Liquid shoots require prep/prelight to set up an effect and ensure
consistency over a series of takes. Zimmerman will call in two or
three assistants, depending upon the complexity of the shot.
Clients and the art director see test film/Polaroids the morning of
a shoot, making any adjustments at that time.
If he's only shooting a single element on film, he makes it as
clean and finished as possible, minimizing the need for retouching.
When a shoot involves multiple elements, he scans each one of them
individually and as the shoot progresses, each element is added to
the composition so everyone can see on the computer monitor if the
image is working.
"The set must be carefully planned so the effect can be repeated
for multiple takes," says Zimmerman. "I rely on my own hand-to-eye
coordination and don't use a beam to automatically trigger the
strobe.The pace of the shoot is faster due to the fragile nature of
many products in the liquid environment."
Zimmerman is similarly intrigued by H20 in its solid form. More
than just being another phase of water work, he was turned on to
frozen photos when a prehistoric Ice Man was discovered a few years
ago in a glacier in the Alps. "The fact that ice could preserve
such fragile elements led to my series of frozen objects."
MORPHING IDEAS INTO ADS
A funny thing
happens whenever Zimmerman adds new effects to his portfolio:
clients want their products presented with that way. His frozen
flowers concept became an Aveda campaign. The morphing Water Horse
became the visual for an ad, as well as inspiring special effects
for Lipton. Manhattan was the catalyst for Baileys, Kirin Beer,
Allsport, and Coca-Cola.
Beyond his reputation as a water-morphing wonder, Zimmerman is
regularly approached with jobs requiring movement, special effects,
or other "problem solving" layouts. Where there's morph there's
manipulation, so his projects frequently require digital
manipulation.
Many clients eventually discover that Zimmerman is a pilot, and as
such, gets assignments for aerial and location work from such
corporations as American Express and AT&T. This body of work is
totally different, even requiring a distinctive portfolio
presentation. Aerial and location work is lucrative, drawing
tremendous international and Internet traffic and stock requests.
Creatively, the differences fade when you realize a successful shot
in either genre is one in which the timing, lighting, and angles
converge to create a unique image in one perfect moment.
At press time, Zimmerman was just back from a shoot for the
Times of India. "My first contact with India was in Mumbai
[Bombay] five years ago, when I was a speaker at a Kodak
Professional seminar. I became intrigued with Indian history and
culture. Later, I developed the idea of documenting life and
customs along the Ganges." A book, gallery shows, seminars, and
Indian student involvement followed.
TECH TALK
After experimenting with outside suppliers, Zimmerman now does all
his scans in-studio. "I find I can get better scans that match my
requirements for a specific project. Time is also an element . . .
even same-day 'rush' service can put a project behind
schedule."
Despite a soup-to-nuts digital workflow for location scouting and
event work, Zimmerman favors film for studio assignments (e.g.,
billboards) and large-scale personal work (e.g., exhibition prints)
because of file size. For his aerial work especially, film capture
gives him more speed, which is critical, plus the ability to
produce 60-inch gallery prints without compromise. Moreover, for
rugged and rigorous location shooting, film is often a reliable,
cost-efficient solution.
Zimmerman's Theory of Computer Equipment—"Each new piece of
equipment must pay for itself in six months"—has served the
studio well. "We try to plan so that as each older, slower computer
is moved on down the line, it still has a job." He also has
matching systems, so that if in the middle of a job a computer or
monitor has a problem, it can be immediately replaced.
"The only doorstops we have kicking around are a few SyQuest
Drives, Jazz drives, and the odd 10 Base-T Ethernet card."
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