SANTA CRUZ >> Part of being a photographer is the ability to capture the beauty within the seemingly mundane.

Santa Cruz multimedia artist David Zimbalist expands on this concept by capturing images of objects such as rocks and buildings and then using digital technology to make the colors pop in ways nobody would have ever expected.

“I sort of call it like switching on a light switch,” he said. “If you’re in a dark room and then you switch on the light switch, all of a sudden you see color on the walls. That’s sort of what the process is like. It’s like taking away all of the layers of paint and letting what was in the original photograph shine through.”

This blend of photography and reflective painting is the emphasis of Zimbalist’s latest body of work, “Amalgamation,” which will be exhibited at London Nelson Community Center starting Friday.

Zimbalist had an interest in photography since he attended an arts camp as a kid and learned how to develop black-and-white photos. This hobby ended up getting sidelined by his interest in music, in which he received a bachelor’s degree at UC Santa Cruz and then moved to New York City where he founded the Speakeasy String Quartet and performed with the likes of Ray Charles, Joni Mitchell and longtime Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts.

However, while living in the Big Apple, Zimbalist got back into photography, focusing on taking shots of the city’s enormous architecture. A photo of the Flatiron Building on Fifth Avenue proved especially influential.

“I caught a reflection in the corner of my eye in this window and I thought, ‘Wow, I wonder if I can photograph that,’” he said. “That was my first reflection shot, and from there, I developed a style and technique for taking reflections of architecture in glass and concrete.”

This process continued as he moved back to California and took photos of buildings in San Francisco. Zimbalist said multimedia work opened up a whole new world of expression for him following years of taking straight photos.

“I wanted a new challenge and a new way to add vivid color to my work,” he said.

This project happened during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns as Zimbalist needed a way to keep busy.

“It was sort of my project during lockdown to teach myself how to do digital painting,” he said.

Collectively, Zimbalist’s older straight reflective shots are part of a body of work he refers to as “Apparition City,” while his new work is called “Amalgamation.”

“(It’s) both a style and technique that I developed to bring out the natural colors and patterns that are hidden within reflections,” he said. “If you process them the right way, you can coax out these really cool patterns and really cool colors that aren’t visible looking at the photograph without it being processed.”

For the project, Zimbalist takes photos, runs them through Photoshop and uses a series of manipulations and filters to bring out the hidden colors and textures.

The exhibit will also mark the premiere of Zimbalist’s “Storyboard of a Dream,” which explores the concept of premonitory art.

The title is based on a project of the same name that Zimbalist started back in 2001 which served as the catalyst for his “Amalgamation” work, starting with the reflection of a building with 49 windows all reflecting different images. This image prompted a book and documentary called “Storyboard of a Dream,” and chapters from the book will be featured at the exhibit.

The series, Zimbalist said, dives into the notion of artists as soothsayers, something he can relate to. In February 2021, he documented “strange things happening in the skies above Santa Cruz,” which he claimed to be unidentified flying objects. Nine months later, in between incorporating the aforementioned image into “Storyboard of a Dream,” he said he photographed what appeared to be the same image in the sky “down to the colors.”

Another inspiration for “Storyboard of a Dream” was a lecture Zimbalist attended with famed psychologist Rollo May on premonitory art, using Pablo Picasso’s 1937 painting “Guernica” as an example of the prophecy of war in the coming decades.

“That lecture stuck with me and changed my life, the whole concept of premonition through art,” he said. “Artists, when they’re being creative, are they tapping into a higher consciousness? I think that’s really the question behind it.”

The reception will feature a mix of “Apparition City” and “Amalgamation” images projected on three screens in different formats: short iPhone loops, short movies using the “Amalgamation” process and a documentary montage of “Storyboard of a Dream.” Zimbalist will also be on hand for a meet and greet, with hard copies of “Storyboard of a Dream” available. The event will feature a live guitarist to provide atmosphere.

Zimbalist hopes viewers will be challenged by the intersection of art and premonition in the exhibit and enjoy the natural beauty of the photos.

“They’re just very unique and very beautiful,” he said.

“Amalgamation” will be on display May 2-31 at the London Nelson Center, 301 Center St., Santa Cruz. The reception is 6-8 p.m. Friday.