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[ September 29, 2003 ]
Photographer Kevin Zacher was one of those kids - the kind who had his first business card by the time he was 10. At 15, he started Express Graphics, designing a hotel flyer and a logo for the Phoenix Art Center. Zacher went so far as to create a fake volleyball company, Illusion Sports Wear, and designed t-shirts for it. Although Zacher entered Northern Arizona University as a graphic design major, he graduated with a degree in photojournalism. As for how Zacher veered off a steadfast course, he says, "My counselor was the devil and she made me hate graphic design. I liked taking pictures of my friends skateboarding when I was younger, so I decided to take some photography classes."
After graduating, Zacher did some minimal assisting before deciding to shoot the two things he really loved: snowboarding, which he discovered in college, and skateboarding. His big break came when Burton hired him after seeing only a few of his pictures. "The art director was a legendary snowboard photographer as well," says Zacher. "He took a chance on me, hiring me for a week." From then on, Zacher's career began to snowball as evidenced in a client list that includes Gravis, Nixon, Burton Snowboards, MTV, DC Shoes and Gary Fisher Bikes.
Zacher still maintains an impressive presence amongst the snowboarding tribes. "I get e-mails from people all over the world telling me they love my pictures, it's really gratifying," he says. Looking to parlay his experience into advertising, Zacher recently began working with New York-based representatives Anderson Hopkins. "Snowboarding is still in my heart, it's where I came from and I don't want to give that up," he says, "but it is time to move on." Zacher spoke to Altpick from his home in Salt Lake City, Utah. It seems like you planned on doing graphic design for a long time. What was it like transitioning into photography? I had done really well in all my graphic design classes. My first photography class, I think I failed it. I thought Law of Reciprocity?what is this? I hate numbers. I kept going and I kept shooting and it just happened.
I think I applied for one job at a newspaper and decided that it was too difficult or I didn't have the credentials. I wanted to travel, plus snowboarding was more tribal. I knew all the people and I was able to sell my pictures on my own in a freelance environment. Did you ever consider pursuing snowboarding or skateboarding professionally? Snowboarding a little bit. I thought about it for a minute. Someone said to me in a chair lift one time, "Whoa you should race because you are pretty fast." I thought about it but it wasn't for me. Has studying photojournalism influenced the way you compose a shot? I try to capture the action, you know: white snow, blue sky, guy in the air. I try to tell a story. So compositionally if there is a funny little kid in the foreground picking his nose on his skies, I might put him in the shot where most photographers wouldn't. Trying to tell a story, yeah, I guess that is the journalist in me. Do you work quickly, methodically; do you use a lot of film? I shoot a lot. Sometimes it's methodical. But what I would say that I'm best at is being a fly on the wall. I don't set up a lot of portraits or shots but I'll suggest things to my subjects to spice things up a bit. I shoot real things in fake situations and fake things in real situations, yin yang. My best shots, I think, are when I am just interacting in an environment, feeding off it, saying: 'OK, what is important here in this scene?' And I like to wait for the off-kilter moments, the non-moments. What kind of equipment do you use? My Mamiya 6FM is around my neck all the time. A lot of my great classics I've shot with that. I also use some Canon equipment, and Hasselblad. But equipment for me is irrelevant, it is simply an extension of seeing what appeals to me. I can either take a picture or not take a picture.
For 80% of my work I am shooting moments and I really don't want to change them. They are real moments, not posed. I want to keep the integrity of that picture. So, for example, I wouldn't want to make someone's face skinnier - maybe I took the picture because they weren't skinny. I clean up and touch up but I don't manipulate. I figure there are so many graphic designers our there that have so much more experience and talent than I do. It has been years since I thought of doing it as a practice. I'll leave it up to other people. Do you see yourself staying in Utah? I came out from L.A. and have a home here. I am considering going back to L.A. and maybe renting an apartment and traveling back and forth. I gotta have my outdoors and I gotta have my city. So the commute shouldn't be so bad. - Contributed by Mary-Beth Holland >> See more work from Kevin Zacher >> See other member spotlights on the member spotlight index >> Find out more on how to become an altpick.com member |
