Monte Zucker

Monte Zucker (died March 15, 2007) was an American photographer. He specialized in wedding photography, entering it as a profession in 1947. In the 1970s he operated a studio in Switzerland. Later he lived in Florida, and in 2003 moved to Palm Springs, California.

He was Brides Magazine's Wedding Photographer of the Year for 1990 and United Nations Photographer of the Year for 2002,^[1] and one of Canon's "Explorers of Light". Additionally, he was a prolific author and teacher, with monthly columns in magazines such as Shutterbug.

Several manufacturers made equipment bearing his name, most notably Westcott's "Monte Reflector".

Unlike many photographers of his generation, he readily embraced new technology, particularly digital photography and Adobe Photoshop, featuring digital techniques in his columns right up until the end of his life, and relating them to earlier methods. He did a series of traveling workshops taught by himself and Eddie Tapp, who covered Photoshop techniques.

Quotations

He noted in one column^[vague] that one of his maxims was "See the finished picture before you even snap the shutter!" but at the same time he stated of a digitally retouched image, "Did I have this in mind when I first created the image? Yes and no. I wanted to create something artistic, something special. Did I know how I was going to do it? Not really."^{[citation needed]}

"If you like the way it looks, go with it! I liked it and I did it! Of course, it takes a lot of experience to develop good taste. When one is just starting out it's easy to like something without knowing if it's really good or not. That works some of the time, but an educated opinion usually works better."^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Unusually for a photography magazine columnist, Zucker mentioned aspects of his personal life in his columns, including his diagnosis of terminal cancer. Shortly after the diagnosis, he arranged a four-generation photo session that included himself, his children, grandchildren, and a great-grandchild, and photos from that session appeared in his Shutterbug column.^{[citation needed]}

In another column,^[vague] he alluded to his bisexuality, stating "I've had the good fortune of having had two lifetime partners, Sondra and Fred, both of whom have brought love and understanding into my life and who have helped me through the rough spots and shared with me some of the finest moments a person can have".^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Official site
• Rangefinder article on Zucker
• Rangefinder article stating Senator Kennedy honors Zucker
• Shutterbug: In Memoriam
• Washington Post obituary

Notes

1. ^ Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb, "Monte Zucker; 'Prince' Of Wedding Portraiture", Washington Post, March 27, 2007.

References

• Shutterbug, December 2003, p. 12.
• Shutterbug, November 2005, p. 18.
• Shutterbug, December 2005, p. 18.

Persondata
Name	Zucker, Monte
Alternative names
Short description	American photographer
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death	March 15, 2007
Place of death