In addition to being an outstanding cinematographer, Steve Gainer, ASC is the curator of the organization’s marvelous collection of vintage camera gear and related materials. The wealth of knowledge and historical perspective he brings to any discussion rivals that of the best scholars on the planet. His latest discovery is the beautifully preserved Arri 2C you’ll find below.
It originally belonged to a cinematographer named Murray Lerner (1927 – 2017). A native of Brooklyn, NY, Lerner won an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1979 for his film From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China. But in addition to photographing many other music-related productions, he may be best known for the docu, Isle of Wight Festival 1970. For years after, he used that show’s B-roll footage of the performances – collected by seven camera crews – to produce other concert films, such as Jimi Hendrix (1991), The Who (1996), Miles Davis (2004), Jethro Tull (2005), Joni Mitchell (2018) and The Doors (2018).
The camera is in perfect working condition, but we’ll never see the likes of what it witnessed again…
Photos courtesy of Steve Gainer, ASC
It is a piece of history from 2 of my favorite art forms, music and cinema. Thanks to the operators, their cameras, and, of course, the sound crews, we can still see and hear what they witnessed.
Shooting live music festivals and concerts, even music videos can be grueling days but so rewarding.
Cameras like this are such amazing, meticulous devices that allow us to craft the images that we capture.
Another beautiful piece for the exhibit!
Thanks for sharing.
where can those historic concert films be seen now?
Steve Gainer is a gift; his passion is such a blessing for the ASC.
Roberto – I don’t know if any of those titles are available, but I sure would like to see them. I’ll let you know what I find out…
yes, thanks please do. At least find out what the titles of the films are. Especially Miles Davis! I worked on the concert and documentary film “No Nukes” back in the late 70’s and we shot concert and interviews and straight forward documentary footage in South Dakota using an Eclair ACL and a 16mm Arri BL with 1000′ mags for the Battery Park City concert. It was my first venture into shooting music and concerts and from there I went on to do dozens of music videos and concerts and loved every long torturous and crazy minute (hour) of it.
In 1978 I started freelancing in NYC with about 10 years of experience in film as a DP/operator. I tried to get on the crew of Mao to Mozart but was unsuccessful. I had just completed 8 weeks in China shooting an NBC News documentary, “China: In a Class by Itself” & I tried to use that as leverage. Of course it didn’t work. For those interested, IMDB has a few words about Murray’s show.
Hey Roberto and Richard, here’s a link to Dylan at Newport., shot with this camera!
And here’s Hendrix!
https://youtu.be/5X_D7i4NxMc
Best
SG
https://youtu.be/G8yU8wk67gY
Here’s more:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_DGSKJdjV6jRvQ6jXEITVykAxMgNbsDJ
Thank you, Steve…!
I might be missing something but I don’t see a link to Dylan or Hendrix anywhere here. Please point me in the right direction.
APOLOGIES- now I just see its on the reply page, but it wasn’t showing on the original emails.
I see the links now.