Most Influential/Favorite Cineamtographers

[Ben Garvey]

In response to 'the BEST shot ever' post, I thought it would be great to compile a list of the Crème de' le' crème of Cinematographers. For those beginning in this field, to veterans, this list would serve as a resource to study lighting/camera techinqiues and cinematic styles.

 

[Mark K.]

Excellent idea, here are a couple whose work helped inspire my interest in the craft:

- Freddie Young
- Dean Semler
- Emmanuel Lubezki
- Conrad Hall
- John Toll
- Gregg Toland

 

[Tico Llaurador]

Too many to list... all of the above, of course... and also Alcott, Almendros, (Jordan) Cronenweth, Pierce-Roberts, Rotunno, Storaro...

Man! This is not fair at all...

 

[Ben Garvey]

Conrad Hall/Stoararo/Tolland definitely at the top (Just saw Road to Predtition), and I'll add Freddie Young (Lawrence of Arabia), and Allen Daviau.

I think it was Lawrence of Arabia and Empire of Sun, two films I can clearly remember when I realized that I would strive to be a cinematographer, whether I liked it or not, and became envious as a kid when I saw the cinematographer names listed, thinking this is something I know I need to do in life, but probably insanely impossible....


So, maybe append this List to be the Most influential Cinematographer/Film list

 

[Kristopher Colavecchio]

Im gonna have to go with Conrad Hall, and Roger Deakins. The train shots in Assassination of Jesse James gave me goosebumps.:w00t:

 

[Tommy Paine]

Deakins, Doyle, Lubezski, Libatique

 

[Dominik Muench]

I would add to the list:

Darius Khondji and Daniel Pearl.

 

[Mark L. Pederson]

Storaro is my all-time personal favorite -

but there are so many -

George Barnes
Sven Nyquist
Aleksandr Knyazhinsky
Frederick Elmes

 

[Ido Karilla]

Ricardo Aronovich!

 

[Kristopher Colavecchio]

also i forgot to mention Guillermo Navarro.

 

[Kevin Lang]

Well someone a little closer to this board would be David Mullen, his work on Astronaut Farmer is some of prettiest stuff I have seen in recent times has a very classic look to it!

 

[Giancarlo Bianchi]

Oakey, here it goes:
> Fritz Arno Wagner - Nosferatu
> Charles Ellis - Sunrise
> Karl Freund - Metropolis, Dracula 1931
> Gregg Toland - Grapes Of Wrath, Citizen Kane,
> Robert Krasker - The Thrid man,
> Russell Metty - Written on the wind, Touc of evil, Spartacus,
> Storaro - Apokalypze Now, Last Tango in Paris, Novencento, The last emperor
> Luciano Tovoli - The passenger
> Gianni Di Venanzo - Otto e mezzo, La notte, L`eclisse, Giulietta degli spiriti
> Gordon Willis - The godfather, Manhattan, Annie Hall
> Emmanuel Lubezki - Childern of man, Sleepy Hollow, Como agua para chocolate
> Stefan Czapsky - Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood
> Nicholas Musuraca - Out of the past, cat people, Clash by night
> Michael Chapman - Taxi Driver
> Raoul Coutard - A bout de souffle, Jules et Jim, Le Mempris, Pierrot le fou
> Janusz Kaminski - Schindler`s List, Saving Private Ryan, Munich
> Wally Pfister - Dark Knight, The presige, Batman Begins
> Yuuharu Atsuta - Tokyo monogatari
> Asakazu Nakai - Ran
> Christopher Doyle - 2046, In the mood for love

Just to name a few...

 

[Davide B.]

I love Storraro not just for his abilities but for his philosophy about art. I really respect the way that he tries to come up with a new aesthetic philosophy for each film. He had a great interview explaining his methods on NPR or possibly the Boston Globe, I think I threw out the .rm file recording of it that I used to have. But I wrote down my favorite quote from it:

""When you are at the most important moment in your life: stop and become a student once again,"
--Vittorio Storaro

John Alton is also a definite favorite of mine. "Painting with Light" was the first book I read about film-making and is still my favorite.

 

[pietro jona]

Many of the ones mentined above, but I wouldn't forget Robert Richardson.

 

[rascom]

The list goes on...

The list goes on...

One of my personal favorites is Robert Müller. Check out his b/w work on Dead Man and Coffee and Cigarettes, and his dv work on 24 Hour Party People, Dancer in the Dark and Breaking the Waves. Though on the two latter movies some shots were done by Director von Trier who claimed in reference to cinematography: "Anybody can do this. You just point the camera at the action". A half truth, indeed!

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

Gregg Toland. No one in the modern (sound) era had a greater impact on cinema. Granted, it is difficult to tell where Welles ended and Toland began, but I would argue that "Citizen Kane" was the true beginning of the modern era, even if the it was over ten years (and in France) before everyone really realized how much had truly changed.

Stephen

 

[Andrew Ceperley]

Geoffrey Unsworth - 2001: A Space Odyssey
Derek Vanlint - Alien
Alex Thomson - Alien 3
Darius Khondji - Seven
Conrad L. Hall - Marathon Man
Conrad W. Hall - Panic Room
Slawomir Idziak - Three Colors: Blue
Jeffrey Kimball - Jacob's Ladder
Michael Seresin - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Vittorio Storaro - Apocalypse Now
Dante Spinotti - Manhunter
Wally Pfister - The Prestige
Dean Cundey - The Thing
David Mullen - Northfork
Bruno Delbonnel - Amelie
Andrew Lesnie - Lord of the Rings
Janusz Kaminski - Minority Report
Roger Pratt - Brazil
Bill Butler - Jaws
Roger Deakins - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Peter Hyams - The Relic
Matthew Leonetti - Star Trek: First Contact
Jan De Bont - Black Rain
Bojan Bazelli - The Ring
David Johnson - Resident Evil

Random, sure...but still good.

 

[Stacey Spears]

Allen Daviau

 

[Ken Willinger]

How about:
Barry Sonnenfeld - Raising Arizona
I really liked his lens choices in that film.
But the topic is flawed. We learn and adapt from all of the Cinematographers listed above. I don't have a favorite or most influential. But I respect and admire the work of them all.
BTW, I happened to catch "Jaws" on TV yesterday. Bill Butler did some great work on that.

I'm catching a lot of TV time right now. I had rotator cuff surgery about ten days ago. Start PT in 2 days. Still aches like a MF and can't lift my arm yet. No handheld for a while!

 

[Tom Lowe]

Toll
Almendros
Lubezki
Hall
Toland
Willis
Doyle
Libatique
Lee Ping Bin
Fricke
Deakins
Elswit
Storaro
Prieto