David J. Zimmerman

David J. Zimmerman (born 1955) is an American photographer who works on long-term projects of landscape, portrait, and social documentary photography. He is best known for his landscape photographs in the desert regions of the southwestern US, his work in homeless and marginalized American communities, and for his large-format portraits of Tibetan refugees in India.
Zimmerman is co-founder of the Himalayan Art Centre, a free-school dedicated to teaching visual storytelling through photography and filmmaking in under-served regions of the Indian Himalayas. Zimmerman is a member of the World Photographic Academy.
== Life and Work ==
Zimmerman's interest in the arts began at an early age with sculpture and painting. In his late teens, he began working in landscape and street photography while living in Europe and the Middle East. Upon returning to the U.S. he studied at Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, California graduating with a BA (Hons) Photography (1981). Upon graduation, he moved to New York City where he would be based for the next 25 years. Since 2006 he has divided his time between New Mexico and India.
Zimmerman's work includes several acclaimed projects including, Desert, for which he was awarded the L'lris d'Or Prize by the World Photography Organization. Of Zimmerman's series, Last Refuge - photographs in marginalized communities in New Mexico, photo historian Carole Naggar writes, "Zimmerman's work is unique in that it is positioned at the crossroads of two traditions: landscape photography and the study of the impact of man on his environment, represented by photographers such as Robert Adams and Richard Misrach, both of whom he admires; and humanistic photography in the tradition of the Farm Security Administration, which documented the great migrations in the wake of the Depression. Whether indirectly, through photos of the territory, or directly, through portraits, it is always people who are at the center of Zimmerman's preoccupations. Between sand and sky, earth and heaven, the images of Last Refuge are above all a testimony to man's resilience and spirit, living in a damaged territory".
In addition to his long-term photographic projects in the US, Zimmerman has worked in India since 1995. He has photographed extensively along the Ganges River documenting daily life along its 2700+ km length, from Gomukh to Sagar Island in the Bay of Bengal. Zimmerman has been a guest artist of the Photographers Guild of India in Mumbai in 1995 and again in 2005. Zimmerman has taught annual workshops in photography and filmmaking at the Himalayan Art Centre in Dharamshala, India since 2011. 
Zimmerman's work, One Voice; Portraits from the Tibetan Diaspora (2012-2017) was photographed in villages, nomad camps, and refugee settlements throughout India. . In 2014 Zimmerman presented a seminar of the work One Voice at the Annenberg Space for Photography. in Los Angeles. His monograph One Voice; Portraits from the Tibetan Diaspora (2017) was published by Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg. 
== Publications ==
* One Voice. Portraits from the Tibetan Diaspora. Heidelberg: Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg, 2017. ISBN 978-3-86828-773-8
== Exhibitions ==
* Ganga Sagar Mela, Honorable Mention, Lyceum Gallery, Art of Photography Show, Los Angeles, CA, 2008. (with others).
* Manmade Landscape, Honorable Mention, Hearst 8x10 Photography Biennial, New York, NY 2009. (with others).
* Desert, "Art in Nature", Center for Fine Art Photography, Ft. Collins, CO, 2009. Director's Selection Award & Juror's Selection Award. (with others).
* Desert, Fraser Gallery, Bethesda, MD, 2009. Best in Show. (with others).
* Manmade Landscape, "Works of Man", Center for Fine Art Photography, Ft. Collins, CO, 2009. Director's Selection Award. (with others).
* Desert, Aperture Gallery, New York, NY. Ardel Gallery of Modern Art, Bangkok, Thailand. Galerie Esther Woerdehoff, Paris, France. Gallery 21, Tokyo, Japan. Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City. Edward Day Gallery, Toronto, Canada. Edge Gallery, Hong Kong, China. World Photography Awards global tour, 2009. (with others).
* Desert, Gallery Caprice Horn, Berlin, Germany. Art Work Space, London, UK. World Photography Awards global tour, 2010. (with others).
* Barriers, Thessaloniki Photo Festival "Contrast", Thessaloniki, Greece, 2010. (solo).
* Desert, A.Galerie, Paris, France, 2010. (solo).
* Desert, World Photography Awards, Cannes, France, 2010. (solo)
* Desert, Capital Culture Gallery, Group Show of Contemporary Photography, London, UK, 2011. (with others).
* Manmade Landscape, "Curator's Choice", Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, NM, 2011. (with others).
* Desert, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Ft. Collins, CO, 2011. (solo).
* Desert, "New Mexorado", Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, NM, 2011. (with others).
* Portraits from the Gulf of Mexico, 2010. Hulse Warman Gallery, Taos, NM, 2011. (solo).
* Last Refuge, Detroit Center for Contemporary Photography, Detroit, MI, 2011. (with others).
* Desert, "Alternative Process", Soho Photo Gallery, New York, NY, 2011. (with others).
* Desert, Hulse Warman Gallery, Taos, NM, 2011. (solo).
* Manmade Landscape, "Taos Contemporary", Center for Visual Art, Denver, CO, 2012. (with others).
* Last Refuge, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, New York, NY, 2011/2012. (solo).
* One Voice; Portraits from the Tibetan Diaspora, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, New York, NY, 2013. (solo).
* One Voice; Portraits from the Tibetan Diaspora, "Tulkus 1880-2018, Paola Pivi", Witte de With Centrum voor Hedendaagse Kunst (Center for Contemporary Art), Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2013. (with others).
* One Voice; Portraits from the Tibetan Diaspora, "Tulkus 1880-2018, Paola Pivi", Castello Di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art, Turin, Italy, 2013. (with others).
* Manmade Landscape, Desert, "Center Collection Show Summer 2013", Center for Fine Art Photography, Ft. Collins, CO, 2013. (with others).
*One Voice; Portraits from the Tibetan Diaspora, Desert, "Grand Format from the Collection", Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, New York, NY, 2015. (with others).
* One Voice; Portraits from the Tibetan Diaspora, Art on Paper, New York, NY, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, 2015. (with others).
* One Voice; Portraits from the Tibetan Diaspora, "Refugee", Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles, CA, 2016. (with others).
* One Voice; Portraits from the Tibetan Diaspora, "Refugee", Fotofest, Houston, TX, 2017. (with others).
* One Voice; Portraits from the Tibetan Diaspora, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, New York, NY, 2017. (solo).
* One Voice; Portraits from the Tibetan Diaspora, AIPAD, New York, NY, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, 2019. (with others).
* Last Refuge, "Home(less)", Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum, New York, NY, 2017-2018. (with others). Home(less) Exhibitionhttp://huc.edu/sites/default/files/Homeless%20catalog%20for%20web.pdf
* One Voice; Portraits from the Tibetan Diaspora, Art on Paper, New York, NY, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, 2020. (with others).
*One Voice; Portraits from the Tibetan Diaspora, Palm Beach Modern & Contemporary, Palm Beach, FL, Sous Les Etoiles Gallery, 2020. (with others).
== Awards ==
* 2003: PDN Photo Annual, for a photograph from the Ganga Sagar Mela project.
* 2003: Blue Earth Alliance, "World in Focus", for a photograph from the Ganges River project.
* 2003: Center (Santa Fe), "Assignment Earth", for a photograph from the Ganges River project.
* 2003: Communication Arts, for a photograph from the Urban Landscape project.
* 2004: PDN Photo Annual, for a photograph from the Ganges River project.
* 2006: APA National, for a photograph from the Aerial Landscape project.
* 2006: Center (Santa Fe), "Singular Image", for a photograph from the Aerial Landscape project.
* 2006: PDN, "World in Focus", for a photograph from the Cityscapes project.
* 2007: The Art of Photography Show, Honorable Mention, for a photograph from the Ganga Sagar Mela project.
* 2008: APANY, "Tell Us a Story", for a photograph from the Manmade Landscape project.
* 2008: PDN PIX, for a photograph from the Desert project.
* 2008: Bridge Art Fair Miami, Finalist, for a photograph from the Manmade Landscape project.
* 2009: Hearst 8x10 Photography Biennial, Honorable Mention, for photographs from the Manmade Landscape project.
* 2009: IPA Lucie Awards, for photographs from the Sage project.
* 2009: World Photography Awards, World Photography Organization, L'lris d'Or, Photographer of the Year, for the Desert project.
* 2009: World Photography Awards, World Photography Organization, Fine Art Landscape, Winner, for the Desert project.
* 2009: Worldwide Photography Gala Awards, First Prize Landscape, for the Desert project.
* 2009: EnFoco Awards, for a photograph from the Manmade Landscape project.
* 2009: Scream Gallery London, Finalist, for a photograph from the Manmade Landscape project.
* 2009: Photolucida Critical Mass, Finalist, for the Barriers project.
* 2009: Center for Fine Art Photography, "Works of Man", Director's Selection Award, for a photograph from the Manmade Landscape project.
* 2009: Fraser Gallery, Best in Show, for photographs from the Desert project.
* 2009: Center for Fine Art Photography, "Art in Nature", Director's Selection Award, Juror's Selection Award, for a photograph from the Desert project.
* 2010: Black & White Spider Awards, Nominee, for a photograph from the Desert project.
* 2017: IPA International Photography Awards, Best of Show (Print), 3rd Prize, Monograph, One Voice; Portraits from the Tibetan Diaspora.
== References ==
== External Links ==
* Official website
* 
Category:1955 births
Category: Photographers
Category:Photographers of the United States
Category:Social documentary photographers
Category:Portrait photographers
Category:Landscape photographers