Blog
April 23, 2012
This week's blog is about Al Kooper, a musician who has worn many hats. Without him we would not have the French horn on the Rolling Stones Let It Bleed album. We also probably would not have the bands Blood, Sweat and Tears and Lynrd Skynrd since he basically created them. I heard some BST the other day and it made me realize what Al Kooper has done.
The photos posted are from Milwaukee's club Humpin Hannas that were taken on December 29, 1972. Al and his band that night were amazing, and check out that nice leather outfit and the white jacket he wore! In those days it seemed every band lugged around the Hammond B 3 organ. That heavy organ had the best sound and you knew what it was as soon as they started playing it.
He is still playing and I would love to see him again. Think he still has those boots or shoes? I want a pair for going out!
Enjoy these images on my new website and please keep checking it for more photos and stories.
Please visit me on Facebook or Twitter @ richzimmermann.com
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
April 16, 2012
Most of us work in an office or cubicle, but if you are lucky enough to be a race car driver your office is the cockpit. If you are lucky enough to be a musician the stage is your office. Those jobs are very similar in many ways. Both demand a lot of brain power and both require stamina because the work environment can change at any second. Your reflexes need to be quick and you must have the ability to focus only on the task at hand. Both, hopefully, are in front of a large and excited crowd interested in what you are doing. Adrenaline pours through the body of the musician on stage or the race car driver in the cockpit. I feel the same thing when I photograph them! It really is alot of fun for me.
In 2003, after years of photographing race car drivers I wanted to find a different angle, a different view that we don't see very often, a view to call my own. I thought a view of the race car driver from above, in his office, would be an interesting angle. On pit lane one day, I put the Nikon directly above Indy Car driver Tiago Monteiro, who I was photographing for Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing. There it was! I knew I had something good there. This started my cockpit photograph library. It is a difficult photograph to take because I am shooting blind with just putting the camera above the driver and firing away. Digital photography makes that so easy, but in 2003, those first cockpit pictures were taken with film. I did not make the switch to digital until 2005.
My cockpit photographs have traveled around the world since then and all of a sudden it seems that the racing world is catching on. I see other photographers doing and publishing the same thing! It is a nice compliment and I believe that maybe I started a little something way back in 2003. I'm not sure, maybe I didn't start it, but it is a cool view, isn't it?
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
April 10,2012
I know I have to keep up with this blog thing a bit better. I will try to blog once every week.
We lost a neat guy last week, Earl Scruggs. Someone once said that he dressed like a Nashville dentist, but Earl Scruggs was a classy man. He came from the days when we all dressed up to go on an airplane. These days, people do not dress up much for anything at all.
I had the pleasure of meeting and hearing Earl play twice. One of these photographs is from an interview we did before a show at UW Milwaukee in 1972. The other photograph shows him playing with one of his sons and the incredible Vasser Clements. Earl did things with a banjo that made you listen hard and look twice.
We will miss you Earl and keep playing that banjo in heaven.
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
