text: anyone ever heard of monte zucker? he's a great wedding photographer. do you agree? his pictures are outstanding. do you like his pictures? i agree with you that he is a great photographer. here is what i found out about him:  monte zucker - transcending time few people know who monte zucker is today. he keeps reinventing himself. photographs that he continually creates ...some within just the past few weeks ... carry his unmistakable signature only if you know his signature style. monte's images are simple, direct, and emotional. each of them makes a simple statement. there is nothing in his photographs, except what should be there. all distractions were removed before he snapped the shutter. what you see is what he wants you to see. it's usually a face or a collection of faces. when it's a photograph of an individual, you will immediately know that person. when it's a photograph of a group you'll feel and experience their involvement with each other. based on classical tradition, monte's portraiture has never strayed far from his original intent - to capture a moment in people's lives and memorialize it for posterity, in his own words, "i don't photograph the world as it is. i photograph the world as i would like it to be." to accomplish this goal, monte seems to always capture the moment with little or no direction. although he basically controls all of his subjects when they're being photographed, they appear to be completely natural.  he's always at the right place at the right time to do that. it's because of his steadfast determination to photograph people at their best angles and in their best light that he's able to continually come up with photographs that the subjects feel are the best picture that they've ever had taken of themselves. of course, the fact that he's spent over 50 years as a professional photographer/teacher studying and perfecting his photographic technique may have something to do with his success. monte has achieved just about every photographic degree that exists. the united nations recently honored him as portrait photographer of the year 2002. he feels that his most special honor, however, is the fact that his popularity with photographers of all ages is continually growing.