Dave Rutherford
Strawberry Spring

The Cinematographer…

Dave Rutherford was almost literally raised in the television studio where his father was an engineer. He was always interested in photography and was inspired when he saw the fluid camera movement in The Shining. A few years later Rutherford studied at film workshops in Rockport, Maine, under the tutelage of Paul Taylor, Don Strine, Theo Van de Sande, ASC and Rob Draper, ASC. After that summer, Rutherford came home and sold everything he owned to buy a Steadicam. One year later he was training with Garrett Brown.

Rutherford says he is fascinated by cinematography and enjoys "watching words turn into pictures." His other mentor, Bill Greenfield, a lighting director for The Ed Sullivan Show in the 1960s, taught him how to develop his own style and gain confidence in lighting choices. Rutherford is now director of motion photography and Steadicam owner/operator for Black Box Pictures/Avatar Studios, a full service production house.

The Film…

Strawberry Spring is a strange and magical time that comes like a warm embrace after a harsh winter… along with a shadow of death. When police begin finding bodies on a college campus, all the students become shaken by the murders, except for one who is enchanted by them.

Director Doveed Linder wanted heavy fog in every scene, but the film was shot in the spring during the windiest time of year in St. Louis. Rutherford spent many hours studying wind currents. He also used the camera in ways to make it a character in the film, versus a voyeur.

Studying psychological thrillers like Dante Spinotti's Manhunter informed the process of transforming the camera from tool to talent and enabled the filmmakers to tread on the fears of the audience - much like the writing of Stephen King who penned the short story on which the film was based.

Dave Rutherford and Stephen Lighthill, ASC