All images © David Zimmerman
These images from David Zimmerman recently came into the submissions inbox which serve as a case study for the underlying theme of today´s post, originality. As much as I like them, I have a bit of bee in my bonnet in that formally they are all-too-familiar and are distinctly reminiscent of both Andreas Gursky´s The Rhine II, 1999 and also Edgar Martins´ series Hidden to name just a few examples. This is why they didn´t really get my creative juices going. Nevertheless, they are still well composed shots and as a photographer David commands respect for he has he assisted many of New York's top editorial and advertising photographers and has done several commercial assignments for the likes of Pepsi, Mercedez-Benz, Seagram's, American Express, Unilever and others. Interestingly, David's studio & home in Taos were built to LEED certified standards for sustainability. Both his studio and home are entirely solar powered, use catchment water and are passive solar heated. Hats off to you sir. His current work includes photographic projects in the deserts of the southwest U.S., the Salton Sea in southern California and documentary work along the Ganges River in northern India. He is the current recipient of the Sony World Photography Awards L'Iris D'or Prize for his landscape photography in the American southwest. David's work is represented is Susan Spiritus Gallery in Newport Beach and Capital Culture, London.
Speaking about the work, David, eloquently explains the interest that lies behind photographing this subject:
"These images of walls are an exploration of my interest in physical, social, economic and class barriers. Walls are symbols of boundaries. They are symbols of limits and obstacles. Barriers provoke, they pique curiosity and limit a clear view of the horizon. Barriers guard secrets and filter information. What is the consequence of unchallenged barriers?"
