John Gerald Zimmerman
John Gerald Zimmerman (30 October 1927 in Pacoima, California — 3 August 2002 in Monterey, California) was an American magazine photographer.He was among the first sports photographers to use remote controlled cameras for unique camera placements, and was “a pioneer in the use of motor-driven camera sequences, slit cameras and double-shutter designs to show athletes in motion.Zimmerman was interested in photography from an early age. His father, John L. Zimmerman, a gaffer at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, taught him the basics and bought him a 4×5 view camera. He joined a photographic hobby club in junior high school and spent afternoons developing film with friends in their mothers’ kitchens.Zimmerman took a three-year photography course at John C. Fremont High School in Los Angeles, where he was taught by Hollywood cinematographer Clarence Bach.After graduating high school, Zimmerman was a Navy photographer. In 1950, he landed a job as a staff photographer at the Time bureau in Washington D.C. On his first assignment on November 1, 1950, Zimmerman was driving away from the White House with a group of photographers when two Puerto Rican nationalists stormed nearby Blair House, attempting to assassinate President Truman. Hearing gunshots, the photographers rushed out of the car. Zimmerman had a camera around his neck where as the others had locked theirs in the trunk. Zimmerman got the first photos of the attack, which were published in both Time and Life.
