Many years ago when I was a teenager I saw a film called ‘Night of the Hunter’ starring Robert Mitchum and directed by Charles Laughton. It blew me away with its film noir look and incredible production design and from that moment on my fate was sealed, I wanted to be a film maker.
After graduating university in 1985 I started as a runner and worked my way up through the ranks of loader and focus puller until getting my big break operating Stop Motion and Model camera on the 35mm theatrical features ‘Hellraiser 2’ and ‘Nightbreed’ for the cameraman Harry Oakes in 1988.
I have been lighting since 1990 when I lit 2nd unit on the sci-fi film ‘Hardware’. Since then shooting everything from commercials, promos, films and television for many of the top directors in the industry.
As a film cameraman working on features and commercials I exposed a negative the old fashion way with a light meter and a knowledge of the various film stocks available to me . Over the last few years I have embraced the digital formats creating equally beautiful footage. I have shot on just about every format going Arri Alexa, Red Epic, Red One, Phantom, Photron, Arri 35mm, Arri 16mm, SR2, SR3, 16mm Aaton, Panaflex, Sony F35, F55, Panasonic Varicam, Canon C300, C500, 5D and various minicams Iconix, Go Pro to name just a few. I have also used every piece of kit known to camera kind to achieve the shot – dollies, hand held, steadicam, cranes, tracking vehicles, stabilised heads, motion control… you name it.
I believe any Director of Photography worth his salt, when asked, should be able to produce any style of lighting from dark dramatic chiaroscuro to light high key comedy and every shade in-between. I don’t want to be pigeonholed into one type of work, I thrive on variety and a diversity of new challenges.
Filming is a team effort and I have one of the best teams around, many of us have been working together for years, we work fast, efficiently and generally with a smile on our faces because we love what we do. No one is too proud or jobs worth to help out other departments if we have a spare hand. This hands on approach makes us extremely production friendly resulting in little or no overtime.
On my drama work I regularly have to shoot maybe 7 to 8 pages of dialogue and action in a day, often at several different locations. This means there is no time for indecision, I can light and create a beautiful look that will capture the Director’s vision, get the coverage needed and keep the production on schedule
So whatever your production whether it is a TV series, commercial or a promo I will bring enthusiasm, experience, humour, fresh ideas, innovative lighting and energy to the shoot that is second to none.