1982 Dick Zimmerman Photoshoot

Michael Jackson photographed with a tiger cub by Dick Zimmerman (July 22, 1982)

On July 22, 1982, Michael Jackson participated in a photoshoot for the Thriller album artwork. Dick Zimmerman was commissioned to do the shoot.

During the shoot, Michael wore a white suit. The outfit wasn't actually his, rather it was borrowed from the photographer himself. Jackson later on added a brown fur. As seen on the pictures, the singer was also playing with tiger cubs, after suggesting to Zimmerman to have such on the set. According to the photographer, Michael was so focused on playing with baby tigers, that it was hard to get his attention to the camera. After an outfit change, Jackson was given a fluorescent "lightsaber" (as described by Zimmerman).

“	He didn't have an ego. Celebrities exist on their egos. Michael was just Michael. A very shy individual. In other words, I didn't see any of him putting anything on to me. Michael's maturity came down to his ability to perform. When he wasn't performing, he was a child. So then, you know, during this Thriller session, when he took breaks and all of a sudden became this incredible dancer and mover, and then I would see the difference, how he was in front of the camera and how childlike he had become with the tigers. [...] He was like a pure butterfly. I've never met anybody quite as polite as him. His childlike way was very interesting [...] It was a dichotomy basically of being a child but also being a big individual. [...] Whenever I saw Michael, three times before the shoot, he came off as a very big presence. And then, you know, the two times that I worked with him after that, every time he walked into the room, he had a big presence about him. You know, it's a magical thing. Not too many people have that. Yeah, I've met a lot of celebrities that had a similar way, but they didn't really impress me the way Michael did. He was a very unusual entity, almost like from another planet. Just very, very different.	”
–Dick Zimmerman on working with Michael Jackson for Blackwell Auctions LCC, November, 2023

On November 28, 2023 previously unseen images from the photoshoot got auctioned online for thousands of US dollars. The live bidding is set to begin on December 9.

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