I guess, like
Sam Juliano, I'm kinda a list man. I've done lists, my favorite films from 1926-2008, my favorites of my favorites,
my fave actors, and
my fave actresses. Well I'm sitting here, unable to sleep, and thought I'd throw together a list of my favorite cameramen. So here goes:
Robby Muller
Vittorio Storaro
Gregg Toland
John Alton
Jack Cardiff
Raoul Coutard
Henri Decae
Pierre Lhomme
Ghislain Cloquet
Owen Roizman
Gordon Willis
Vilmos Zsigmond
Jean-Yves Escoffier
Farhad Saba
Dante Spinotti
Richard Rutkowski
Tim Orr
Alain Morcoen
Awesome list! Couple guys on here I've never seen (to my knowledge at least). I am surprised that Orr isn't getting bigger movies -- maybe he's turning them down though. And great to see Escoffier on here. Just curious: what about Nestor A.?
ReplyDeleteThanks! Orr's done some bigger work with Gordon Green. He obviously is really loyal to that partnership. But I'm sure if he wanted to do something even bigger he totally could. You're right, if I added one more, it would have to be Nestor Almendros. He's pretty awesome, too.
ReplyDeleteAh Jeffrey, I am flattered ten times over that you made reference to my preponderance for list-making, and the link to WitD. You've chosen a most fascinating subject for this particular proposition, and I can't argue with a single choice you've made on this fabulous scroll.
ReplyDeleteI would pose to add the following:
Kazuo Miyagawa
Gunner Fisher
Charles Rosher
Eduard Tisse
William Lubchansky
Christian Matras
Sacha Vierney
Robert Krasker
Janusz Kaminski
Conrad Hall
Jules Kruger
James Wong Howe
Roger Deakins
Sven Nykvist
Frantisek Ulrich
Subrata Mitra
Of course, you and I could come up with more as we think more comprehensively, but for now we have the lion's share of the most celebrated artists.
Sam, thanks so much for your wonderful addition here. I really can't argue with any of your choices, and think between the two of us, that we've hit almost all the top-tier. Your addition really rounds out this post.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping in. Always such a treat.
I would also like to add Darius Khondji who shot David Ficher's SEVEN among many others and Robert Richardson who lensed some of Oliver Stone's best work and has since moved on to work for Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese!
ReplyDeleteHey JD, great to have you here, and both very worthy additions. Thanks so much for the comments. I like both of those guys a good deal.
ReplyDelete