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Like many of our BetterPhoto online photography class instructors, Jim Zuckerman is self taught. Jim is a book writer, photography teacher, photo workshop leader, and world traveller. Jim's images are stunningly beautiful, filled with color and life. In this interview, he talks with us about he became a successful photographer.
© Jim Zuckerman
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You are a successful photographer and writer, but I know that your intended career was as a doctor. What compelled you to make the switch?
Jim Zuckerman:
I fell in love with photography and had to do it. I couldn't imagine medicine making me any happier than I was when I was taking pictures.
What sorts of steps did you take to learn photography? Classes,
workshops, books?
Jim Zuckerman:
I am entirely self-taught. I read photo magazines and then I tried all the techniques I read about, mostly in the special
effects arena. This was decades before Photoshop, of course. I didn't get seriously into nature and travel photography until I bought my first medium format camera in 1980.
When did you know you finally "made it" as a professional?
© Jim Zuckerman
All rights reserved
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Jim Zuckerman:
There was never a moment in time when I considered myself successful as a professional. The realization that I was actually making a good living in photography gradually crept up on me over the course of many years.
Do you remember your first photography sale?
Jim Zuckerman:
Yes. I sold a photo of a dog sled race taken at the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. The photo sold for $25 for the cover of Palm Springs Life Magazine, and it ran in the January 1971 issue.
All photos and text © Jim Zuckerman and BetterPhoto.com, Inc., all rights reserved worldwide. No form of reproduction or usage - including copying, altering, or saving of digital image and text files - is permitted without the express written permission of Jim Zuckerman and BetterPhoto.com, Inc.
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