Date: Fri 05-Dec-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

Andrea-Zimmermann-photo-show

Full Text:

No Stranger To Photography, Local Journalist Prepares First Show

(with cut)

BY DOROTHY EVANS

Time was when readers of the The Newtown Bee regularly looked for the byline

of reporter Andrea Zimmermann, confident that while reading her stories they

would find information, humor and sensitivity combined.

It seemed that no local Newtown character or creature, no unusual garden or

historic Newtown feature ever escaped Andrea's notice, whether she was

capturing them with pen or with camera.

After four years at The Bee , Andrea "retired" from her local reporting duties

in July to pursue freelance writing full-time and to take up several other

interests that had been percolating on the back burner for awhile.

One of these will be to work part-time for the Cyrenius H. Booth Library once

it has re-opened, as adult programs coordinator. In that job, she looks

forward to arranging speakers and materials for Games Night, the Foreign Film

Festival, a Civil War lecture series and perhaps forming a senior writing

group.

Meanwhile, her freelance articles have been appearing in the Connecticut

section of The New York Times , as well as in the Yankee Travel Guide and in

Spotlight Magazine , and an upcoming article is slated for Twist , a national

teen magazine.

Yet, as Andrea said this week, it is photography almost more than writing that

gives her the greatest satisfaction and is "the most fun," even though it

doesn't pay the bills.

For that reason, she has decided to put together her first photography show

titled "Eye on Nature," set to open Saturday, December 6, from 2 to 5pm at Dr

Java's Coffee Emporium, 114 Greenwood Avenue in Bethel. It will run through

January 1.

The show will feature 26 photographs taken "out there" in the wild, where

Andrea says she often feels most "at home." Certainly, looking at the

photographs themselves and listening to Andrea talk about them is enough to

illustrate the truth of those words.

The photos are mostly color prints in varying sizes made from 35mm slides

taken over a number of years during several cross-country trips to New

Brunswick, Canada, to Newfoundland, to Catalina Island, Calif., to the

Badlands of South Dakota and to Maine's Acadia National Park. Some were taken

closer to home, here in Connecticut.

A Real Connecticut Yankee

Andrea Zimmermann was born 38 years ago in Greenwich. When she was 13 years

old, her parents, Fred and Lois Zimmermann, moved the family of five to

Weston. That was a pivotal year because it was also the time her father told

her she could have her own camera if she raised half the money to pay for it.

"I don't think he expected me to do it but I surprised him," Andrea said,

pointing to the very camera in question, a Nikkormat 35mm with 50mm lens that

she still uses today.

She lovingly calls it a "real warhorse" because it has survived being dropped,

several hard falls, a car crash and four years' combat duty during her

reporting duties at The Bee.

While the family lived in Weston, Andrea recalls that her father and her older

sister, Roberta, who later went on to study photography, built a darkroom

together, "mainly because he was curious about how the developing process

worked," she said, adding that was the beginning of her own tutelage in the

skill.

Photography was one of Fred Zimmermann's favorite hobbies, a pastime he shared

with his children during family trips to Amsterdam, Holland and Giverny,

France.

Perhaps because both parents were working in creative fields, her father in

advertising and her mother painting in watercolors and oils at home, Andrea

said she has "always been aware of art around me."

"My mother used to sit me down with a miniature easel and do oil sketches.

I've got one she did when I was five. It is hanging, over my bed," she added.

Another favorite color photograph was taken by her sister, Newtown resident

Roberta Jones, during a walk with their dogs in Putnam Park.

Backlighted by a setting sun, Andrea's cocker spaniel, Winston, who is now 18

and physically unable to stray far from his soft cushion on her living room

floor, is captured for all time looking positively frisky as he trots at her

heels.

She is also fond of a black-and-white photograph hanging in her living room of

a bridge taken by her father.

"I just wish my father could be here now to see this show," she said, thinking

about the coming weekend and the 26 photographs that would be exhibited.

Fred Zimmermann died eight years ago, and Lois Zimmermann lives in California.

Outdoor Excursions

Glancing through her photos earlier this week, Andrea considered each one and

was unable to resist commenting as she remembered the surrounding

circumstances.

"I took that one while I was working for The Bee ," she said of a

black-and-white photo showing the Andean condor, Veedor, coming in for a

landing over a fog-shrouded field off Queen Street.

An early morning color shot of a full moon setting behind the Badlands cliffs

drew a quiet chuckle.

"I'm not a morning person but this one really worked beautifully. I was just

ten feet from the tent when I saw this view. Then 15 seconds later, the sun

rose on the other side so I turned around and took that shot, too," she said,

pointing to an equally spectacular view looking east.

"I've almost always got my camera with me when I'm driving. I'm always looking

for shots, even if I'm on vacation. Then if I see something I like, I take

it."

"It's so much fun," Andrea said, and "sometimes after you think you've got a

good picture, you should turn around. There might be an even better one

looking the other way."

Despite her four years shooting black-and-white photos for The Bee , Andrea

said she definitely prefers color for nature shots.

"Though nature can be so beautiful, either way."

Some photographs were chosen for the upcoming show simply because they amused

her, however.

"I took that at night without a tripod in just one shot," she said, laughing

as she looked at a color photograph of a power boat parked outside a lonely

diner called "Fundy Take Out."

There are close-ups and long range shots, one of a pebbly beach washed by

waves in Cape Cod, another view of desolate, rocky hillsides of Newfoundland.

One striking sunset scene shows the silhouette of a fisherman and boat seen

against a background of brilliant oranges and purples in water and sky.

"I know that's almost hard to believe but those really were the colors."

A Writer On Photography

How is writing similar to taking pictures? The question induced a moment of

careful consideration.

"They both are solo efforts that happen in the quiet of your own mind," Andrea

replied.

And both "require a quietness" and a process of creative selection where

decisions are made about what to include and what to leave out. Especially in

nature photography, where there is the need to seize the moment and make the

most of it.

"The wind is always moving something, changing the view," she concluded. That

can be a challenge.

Though she makes her living as a writer, Andrea admits she thinks taking

pictures is a little more fun.

"There's not so much angst involved. It's more spontaneous," she said.

But, paradoxically, at the same time you are caught up in capturing the beauty

of nature, the camera can act as a barrier to your enjoyment of it.

"Sometimes, I purposely don't bring my camera."

Whether writing queries for possible future articles, submitting completed

stories for publication, or hanging photographs for a show, all these acts

take a certain measure of courage.

"You're putting something out there for the public to share and it's a

reflection of what's inside of you. More than something you would just dash

off," she said.

Mainly, for the Bethel show and sale at Dr Java's, "I hope people will realize

from the photographs how much enjoyment I felt at being out there. The feeling

of remembering is so wonderful. Just looking at these pictures makes me want

to go again."

Next year, if she sells enough stories, maybe she'll head out for the desert

or to Hawaii for three months. In addition to her freelance work, she might

try writing a mystery sometime.

"Maybe it would be set in the Midwest, Illinois, or Michigan, and be about a

small family-owned newspaper... not based in fact, of course."