My favourite cinematographers

1. Alex Thomson

Cinematographer | Legend

Alex Thomson entered the film industry in 1946. He worked as regular camera operator to Nicolas Roeg in the 1960s before becoming a director of photography in 1968. His career suffered a hiatus in the mid 1970s when he was injured after falling off a camera rostrum on the set of Jesus Christ ...

2. Vittorio Storaro

Cinematographer | Apocalypse Now

Vittorio Storaro, the award-winning cinematographer who won Oscars for "Apocalypse Now (1979)", "Reds (1981)" and "The Last Emperor (1987)". He was born on June 24, 1940 in Rome, where his father was a projectionist at the Lux Film Studio. At the age of 11, he began studying photography at a ...

3. Dean Semler

Cinematographer | Apocalypto

Dean Semler was born on May 26, 1943 in Renmark, South Australia, Australia. He is a cinematographer and assistant director, known for Apocalypto (2006), Dances with Wolves (1990) and Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981). He is married to Annie Semler.

4. Dean Cundey

Cinematographer | Jurassic Park

Multiple award-winning cinematographer Dean Cundey, ASC, CSC who was nominated for an Oscar for "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and took home the BAFTA for the same film, has a career spanning decades with awards and nominations including a Primetime Emmy (2023 "The Mandalorian") a Daytime Emmy (2001 "...

5. John Toll

Cinematographer | Braveheart

John Toll is an American cinematographer. His filmography spans a wide variety of genres, including epic period drama, comedy, science fiction, and contemporary drama. He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography in both 1994 and 1995 for Legends of the Fall and Braveheart respectively.

He has ...

6. Jan de Bont

Director | Speed

Jan de Bont was one of 17 children born into a Roman Catholic Dutch family in Eindhoven on 22 October 1943. Credited with being creative and having a good mentality for camera techniques, he became a popular cinematographer. He worked on a huge number of films before finding himself on the ...

7. Donald Peterman

Cinematographer | Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Donald Peterman was born on January 3, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a cinematographer, known for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), Flashdance (1983) and Men in Black (1997). He was married to Sally. He died on February 5, 2011 in Palos Verdes Estates, California, USA.

8. Dariusz Wolski

Cinematographer | The Martian

Dariusz Wolski is a Polish film and music video cinematographer. He is best known for Crimson Tide (1995), Dark City (1998), the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), The Martian (2015) and All the Money in the World (2017).

Many of his ...

9. John Schwartzman

Cinematographer | Seabiscuit

John Schwartzman was born on October 18, 1960 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a cinematographer and actor, known for Seabiscuit (2003), Pearl Harbor (2001) and Armageddon (1998).

10. Dan Mindel

Cinematographer | Spy Game

Dan Mindel was born on May 27, 1958 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a cinematographer and actor, known for Spy Game (2001), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) and Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015). He has been married to Lisa Fallon since June 6, 1992. They have four children. He ...

11. John Seale

Cinematographer | Mad Max: Fury Road

John Seale was born on October 5, 1942 in Warwick, Queensland, Australia. He is a cinematographer and director, known for Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), The English Patient (1996) and Witness (1985). He has been married to Louise Seale since September 23, 1967. They have two children.

12. Mikael Salomon

Director | Band of Brothers

Mikael Salomon was born and grew up in Denmark. He is originally and primarily a cinematographer. The first feature film he shot was Fantasterne (1967) by Kirsten Stenbæk. After almost two decades as one of his country's finest in the field and only a few foreign productions, he then moved his life...

13. Juan Ruiz Anchía

Cinematographer | Blackthorn

Juan Ruiz-Anchia, ASC was born in the capital of the Basque Province of Spain, Bilbao. He graduated in 1981 from the American Film Institute (AFI in Hollywood, CA) with a Master in Visual Arts as a Director of Photography. Prior to attending AFI, he graduated from the Escuela Oficial de ...

14. John Alcott

Cinematographer | Barry Lyndon

John Alcott, the Oscar-winning cinematographer best known for his collaboration with director Stanley Kubrick, was born in 1931, in Isleworth, England, the son of movie executive Arthur Alcott, who would become the production controller at Gainsborough Studios during the 1940s.

Alcott began his film...

15. Matthew F. Leonetti

Cinematographer | Strange Days

Matthew F. Leonetti was born on July 31, 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a cinematographer and producer, known for Strange Days (1995), Star Trek: First Contact (1996) and The Butterfly Effect (2004).

16. Caleb Deschanel

Cinematographer | The Passion of the Christ

Caleb Deschanel is an American film cinematographer and film/television director. He has been nominated for six Academy Awards, each time in the field of cinematography. The first nomination came in 1983 for the film The Right Stuff (1983). His second was in 1984 for The Natural (1984), the third ...

17. Adrian Biddle

Cinematographer | V for Vendetta

Adrian Biddle was born on July 20, 1952 in Woolwich, London, England, UK. He was a cinematographer, known for V for Vendetta (2005), Thelma & Louise (1991) and 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992). He was married to Mo. He died on December 7, 2005 in London, England, UK.

18. Adam Greenberg

Cinematographer | Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Adam Greenberg was born on April 11, 1937 in Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland. He is a cinematographer, known for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Ghost (1990) and The Terminator (1984).

19. Stephen Goldblatt

Cinematographer | The Help

Stephen Goldblatt was born on April 29, 1945 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a cinematographer and director, known for The Help (2011), Closer (2004) and Angels in America (2003).

20. Jeffrey L. Kimball

Cinematographer | Mission: Impossible II

Jeffrey L. Kimball was born on May 29, 1943 in Wichita, Kansas, USA. He is a cinematographer, known for Mission: Impossible II (2000), Paycheck (2003) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).

21. Donald McAlpine

Cinematographer | Moulin Rouge!

Donald McAlpine was born in 1934 in Quandialla, New South Wales, Australia. He is a cinematographer and director, known for Moulin Rouge! (2001), Romeo + Juliet (1996) and The Dressmaker (2015).

22. Mac Ahlberg

Cinematographer | Striking Distance

Mac Ahlberg was born on June 12, 1931 in Ängelholm, Skåne län, Sweden. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Striking Distance (1993), Re-Animator (1985) and From Beyond (1986). He was married to Mary. He died on October 26, 2012 in Cupra Marittima, Marche, Italy.

23. Ben Davis

Cinematographer | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Ben Davis was born in 1961 in London, England, UK. He is a cinematographer and producer, known for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). He is married to Camille Griffin. They have three children.

24. Seamus McGarvey

Cinematographer | Atonement

SEAMUS McGARVEY (Director of Photography) has collected two Academy Award nominations for his cinematography: on Joe Wright's 2007 WWI drama "Atonement," and his 2012 adaptation of Tolstoy's classic, "Anna Karenina." In addition to the Oscar nominations, McGarvey won the British Society of ...

25. Chris Menges

Cinematographer | Michael Collins

As an Academy Award-winning cinematographer who made the successful segue to directing features, Chris Menges has carved out a successful, but understated career. Menges got his start as an assistant editor and camera operator and even worked as a sound recordist several times, before working his ...

26. Philippe Rousselot

Cinematographer | A River Runs Through It

Philippe Rousselot was born on September 4, 1945 in Briey, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France. He is a cinematographer and director, known for A River Runs Through It (1992), Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) and Dangerous Liaisons (1988).

27. Jordan Cronenweth

Cinematographer | Blade Runner

Jordan Cronenweth was born on February 20, 1935 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Blade Runner (1982), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) and Altered States (1980). He was married to Carolyn June Ervin. He died on November 29, 1996 in Los Angeles, California, ...

28. Vilmos Zsigmond

Cinematographer | Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Along with László Kovács, a fellow student who fled Hungary in 1956, Zsigmond rose to prominence in the 1970s. He is known for his use of natural light and vivid use of color on features such as The Long Goodbye (1973) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).

29. Jack Cardiff

Cinematographer | Black Narcissus

Almost universally considered one of the greatest cinematographers of all time, Jack Cardiff was also a notable director. He described his childhood as very happy and his parents as quite loving. They performed in music hall as comedians, so he grew up with the fun that came with their theatrical ...

30. Mark Irwin

Cinematographer | Old School

Mark Irwin was born on August 7, 1950 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is a cinematographer, known for Old School (2003), RoboCop 2 (1990) and There's Something About Mary (1998).

31. Dante Spinotti

Cinematographer | L.A. Confidential

Dante Spinotti was born in Tolmezzo, Udine, in the northeastern Italian Region of Friuli. He began his career at RAI (Italian TV), before that he spent lot of time in Kenia as cinematographer for his uncle. In 1985, producer Dino De Laurentiis offered him a chance to work in USA for the first time ...

32. Douglas Slocombe

Cinematographer | Rollerball

London-born Douglas Slocombe has long been regarded as one of the film industry's premiere cinematographers, but he began his career as a photojournalist for Life magazine and the Paris-Match newspaper before World War II. During the war he became a newsreel cameraman, and at war's end he went to ...

33. Richard H. Kline

Cinematographer | King Kong

Born in Los Angeles on Nov. 15, 1926, Kline, with the help of his dad, landed a job in the camera department at Columbia Pictures after he graduated from high school in 1943. He worked as a slate boy on Cover Girl (1944), starring Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly. Richard is the fourth member of my ...

34. Bojan Bazelli

Cinematographer | The Lone Ranger

Cinematographer Bojan Bazelli, ASC is a master image maker who leads the way with his visually groundbreaking work. He's currently filming with director David Lowery on Peter Pan. Previously, Bazelli lensed 6 Underground, Netflix's largest budgeted feature to date, helmed by director Michael Bay ...

35. Allen Daviau

Cinematographer | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Allen Daviau was born on June 14, 1942 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He was a cinematographer and writer, known for E.T. (1982), Empire of the Sun (1987) and Bugsy (1991). He died on April 15, 2020 in Woodland Hills, California, USA.

36. Andrew Laszlo

Cinematographer | Innerspace

Cinematographer Andrew Laszlo was born on January 12, 1926 in Papa, Hungary. Laszlo started out as a camera apprentice at the Motion Picture Studios of Budapest when World War II began. Andrew and his family were sent to a Nazi concentration camp; he was the sole member of his family to survive ...

37. Freddie Francis

Cinematographer | The Straight Story

During his last years at school he spent most of his time writing a thesis on 'the future of film' On leaving school he joined Gaumont British Studios at Lime Grove as an apprentice to a stills photographer for a year. He claimed this taught him more about the art of photography than any other form...