Deakins is a giant – his work constantly amazing me and the fact that he has the ability to work in different genres and produce unique images is a rarity.
As far as DPs working today, top five:
-Harris Savides
-Robert Elswit
-Roger Deakins
-Emmenual Lubeszki
-Christopher Doyle
Top five older DPs (retired/dead/work sporadically):
-Conrad Hall
-Gordon Willis
-Vittorio Storaro
-Vilmos Zsigmond
-Owen Roizman
Thanks Fredo!
As far as DP’s working today, I tend to follow Chris Menges and Caleb Deschanel no matter what they do. I even watched Killshot, which was horrid, because of Deschanel.
@Clayton – Caleb is great and though I don’t recommend the film, he did a fantastic job on My Sister’s Keeper. He certainly elevated it to look better than it needed or you expected it to be.
Yeah, I’ll be hitting My Sister’s Keeper on DVD, even though I swore never to watch another Nick Cassavates film after I saw Alpha Dog. He gets a free pass this time only because of Deschanel. I’m glad to hear you talk up his work on it, makes me not dread it so much. It is cool though that Deschanel went and worked with Nick 35 years after working on Woman Under the Influence for John.
“It is cool though that Deschanel went and worked with Nick 35 years after working on Woman Under the Influence for John”
I thought the same thing and wondered how this came about. I wondered if they ever broached that subject.
My Sister’s Keeper is not very good at all. Definitely a movie for the wife. There are moments of opportunity for some really interesting stuff and I have to say that I can see some flashes of John in Nick’s work. Unfortunately he never develops it and it’s almost like he’s trying to be everything his father wasn’t. It’s sort of disappointing but I guess it’s unfair to want the son to be like the father.
I have not been impressed with any of Nick’s work and only saw this film because a friend of mine is in it.
Congratulations to your friend. Yeah, Nick is a wash, and it’s unfair to compare him to his father, but it is also impossible not to.
JEAN-YVES ESCOFFIER
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Raymond Depardon – Profils paysans
Boris Kaufman – L’atalante
Conrad Hall
Roger Deakins
Darius Khondji
Christopher Doyle’s work really stands out for me, he’s really developed his own style.
Orientations – Christopher Doyle: Stirred Not Shaken a documentary on his work is a good watch.
User de Faux-Fuyants
“I’ve found that most people don’t even know what a cinematographer does let alone be able to name some of the greats.”
Deakins is my pick for the best working. He is pretty much knocking his work out of the park every chance he gets.