Andrew Zuckerman‘s latest book Bird (Chronicle Books, ISBN 9780811870986) showcases 200 vividly colorful, intelligently captured studio portraits of 75 exotic bird species. Zuckerman also filmed his photoshoot and posted behind-the-scenes film footage of the plumage. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist that near-rhyme.) 
Along with Zuckerman’s two earlier books, Creature (2008) and Wisdom (2007), Bird is the third in his series of similarly designed “concept” books — 12″x12″square coffee table friendy, one-word titled books, all shot on location in high key studio lighting against white seamless — a recipe that has become Zuckerman’s signature look, his brand. And his brand, like Bird, is soaring.
Still in his early thirties, Zuckerman knows and understands branding. He is co-founder of Late Nights & Weekends (LNW), a creative agency and production company, whose advertising clients include Gap, Puma, BMW, among other brands. His white seamless aesthetic grew out of shooting what he called “still lifes of bags and shoes” on a “perfectly white background” for Vogue magazine, one of his first photography jobs after graduating from the School of Visual Arts in NYC.
Above, Zuckerman's Chimpanzee image. See this chimp recycled in an ad selling headphones for Vogue, below.
He still shoots on a perfectly white background — a look that has become his brand. In all three of his photography books, Zuckerman’s subjects, both creatures and people, appear in near shadowless wraparound light shot against white seamless. The effect extracts all context, as if his subjects were amputated from their environments by an extraction performed with a precision Photoshop selection plugin. No need for background separations in post-production, here. Zuckerman gets it right in his camera. (Geeks take note: he shoots Hasselblad H2 with a Leaf Aptus 75S digital back and brings Broncolor Grafit portable studio lights on location.) He used the same lighting recipe when he shot animals, reptiles and other critters for Creature and wise people with smart quotes in Wisdom. (Click the preceding links to see YouTube film shorts of amazing behind-the-scenes footage of his photoshoots for these two books.) Creature, now its its fourth printing, features 150 nuanced studio portraits of tigers, baby leopards, a giraffe, chimpanzees, parrots, bears, reptiles, fish and other photogenic creatures. His second book,
Zuckerman's Giraffe from Creature recycled in an ad to sell soap for Vogue magazine's shopping guide at style.com
Wisdom, published late last year, still is an international sensation. It was produced with the cooperation of Archibishop Desmond Tutu, who made the initial contact with the book’s subjects, international luminaries over the age of 65 with something to say. The fifty warts-and-all honest portraits include, for example, Dame Judi Dench, Desmond Tutu, Vanessa Redgrave, Ravi Shankar, Clint Eastwood, Andrew Wyeth, Frank Gehry, Edward Kennedy, Chuck Close, Robert Redford, Buzz Aldrin, Vaclav Havel, Jane Goodall, Nelson Mandela, Graham Nash, and many others.
Primatologist Jane Goodall in Zuckerman's book, Wisdom.
Fascinating quotes from Zuckerman’s interviews with these iconic men and women are also published in the book and on an included dvd of film footage from these interviews. Zuckerman says that he premised the book on the belief that ”one of the greatest gifts one generation can pass to another is the wisdom it has gained from experience.” Now, with the publication and marketing of Bird, Zuckerman may have set his sights a bit lower than working towards world peace (as he does in Wisdom), but nonetheless he again has proven himself as to be both a talented and insightful artist, a gifted photographer, and a 
skillful brand manager.
In the same Vogue catalog in which Zuckerman's Chimp sells headphones, his Bald Eagle image hawks ties.
Zuckerman’s uniformly, uncluttered images and signature whitespace backgrounds grant seamless entry points into his varied projects, while giving Zuckerman the ability to combine images from among different projects to create and market his his own branded merchandise (which already includes his line of Creature Wall Calendars, Creature Floor Puzzles, Creature Notecards, etc. The formula also contributes to a stockpile (er… stock archive) of images that Zuckerman draws upon to produce commercials and ads for clients to sell their own products.
That is exactly what Zuckerman did when he used shot footage of chimps in a commercial he created to sell Puma shoes (See Ants,” “Butterflies,” “Chimps”) and when he let Vogue magazine use his chimp and other images from Creature and Bird to sell electronics, jewelry, purses, shoes, and even bars of soap, pencils (or were they cosmetics?), pet carriers, ties, and ice skates in Vogue’s online shopping guide. And circularly, Vogue’s online Holiday shopping guide webpage reciprocally promotes Zuckerman’s Bird book.
Very entrepreneurial. Very synergistic. Zuckerman-branded chimpanzees selling headphones for Vogue? Look, in a down market, you gotta do what you gotta do. Wonder what primatologist Jane Goodall, one of Zuckerman’s articulate portrait subjects in Wisdom, has to say about that.
