Year: 2025

Lloyd Knechtel, ASC             Over the five-year history of this blog, I’ve gone deep to deliver information you probably wouldn’t have encountered anywhere else.  As the latest in the long line of if-only-they-were-underrecognized-rather-than-completely-forgotten cinematographers, Lloyd Knechtel, ASC deserves all the attention I can give him.  He was one of the great early-Hollywood special effects pioneers, … Continue reading “LLOYD KNECHTEL, ASC (1907-1971)”

            I know.  It’s been way too long and you’ve been yearning for a fresh shot of Himself, Jeff IV.  So, here he is in mixed light, no less!

James Wong Howe, ASC and star Samantha Eggar on the set of The Molly Maguires (1970)             During my formative days as a young assistant cameraman in New York, I experienced a minor impulse toward pursuing editing rather than camera. Fortunately, I found this book in a cutout bin at one of those hole-in-the-wall bookshops … Continue reading “A SHAPE-SHIFTING VOLUME”

            I love Steven Soderbergh’s The Limey (1999)!  Everything about it works; for me it’s the best line on his resumé, and that’s no small compliment.  He’s the most adventurous director of the past thirty years and I’ve greatly admired everything he’s done – the hits and the misses.             His cinematographer on this one, … Continue reading “LIME AND PUNISHMENT”

            From the December 1942 issue of American Cinematographer…             What a different time!

         This film noir – directed by Robert Montgomery (who also starred) and shot by Paul Vogel, ASC – is a run-of-the-mill interpretation of the Raymond Chandler novel of the same name.  You’d be missing nothing if you didn’t see it, but for followers of this blog it’s memorable for one reason: The story is … Continue reading “LADY IN THE LAKE (1947)”

         On the tail of Friday’s post regarding the Cinematographic Annual, a deep-dive into the ASC archive unearthed the amazing document you see below.  In addition to the 2,332 patents Thomas Edison was granted during his career, he is universally acknowledged as one of the creators of the motion picture camera.  In the letter, his … Continue reading “WHAT CAN YOU SAY BUT…WOW!”

         Prior to the arrival of Jackson Rose’s first ASC Manual in 1935, there was the Cinematographic Annual.  Limited to two editions that were published by the ASC in 1930 and 1931, they contained an incredible body of knowledge.  I can still recall my excitement when I stumbled over them early in my career.  At … Continue reading “AN AMAZING FORERUNNER”

Easy rider…

         Everything Cinematography is a brand-new Youtube series hosted by my good friend and colleague Steve Gainer, ASC.  In addition to being a terrific shooter, as the ASC Museum Curator he’s our resident expert on the history of the artform.  For more than twenty years, he has been responsible for the acquisition, restoration and repair … Continue reading “LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE!”