| Guild Members Select Who are the most influential cinematographers in the relatively brief history of filmmaking? According to a survey of International Cinematographers Guild (ICG) members, they are, alphabetical order (click on each to read a brief bio):
They will be recognized on a Wall of Fame at the Guild’s new national headquarters at 7755 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. ICG will celebrate its 75th anniversary and commemorate the opening of its new headquarters at a gala event on November 8. “We didn’t ask our members to select the most talented or creative cinematographers, because that would be like asking artists to choose between Dali and Rembrandt,” says ICG National President George Spiro Dibie, ASC. “We invited them to choose the cinematographers who have done the most to influence the art form. That was still a very difficult decision. More than 300 cinematographers received votes.” The ICG Top 10 Most Influential Cinematographers list, which is actually made up of 11 names due to a tie, features cinematographers whose work spans the history of the industry. Bitzer, Howe, Toland and Young were in the first and second generation of cinematographers who were literally inventing a new visual language. Cronenweth, Hall, Nykvist, Storaro, Wexler, Willis, and Zsigmond were in the front ranks of a new wave of filmmakers who transformed the art form beginning in the 1950s. They were “outsiders” with diverse backgrounds and different ways of thinking than the Hollywood cinematographers who worked under contracts at studios. ICG also released the names of 19 other cinematographers who ranked in the top 30 in the opinions of the 500-plus members who cast ballots. They are Nestor Almendros, ASC, Stanley Cortez, ASC, Allen Daviau, ASC, Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC, Caleb Deschanel, ASC, George Spiro Dibie, ASC, William Fraker, ASC, Karl Freund, ASC, Janusz Kaminski, ASC, Darius Khondji, ASC, AFC, Laszlo Kovacs, ASC, Arthur Miller, ASC, Robert Richardson, ASC, Owen Roizman, ASC, Leon Shamroy, ASC, Dante Spinotti, ASC, Harry Stradling, ASC, Robert Surtees, ASC, and John Toll, ASC. “Each of these cinematographers made unique and remarkable contributions to defining and advancing an important form of art,” says ICG Executive Director Bruce Doering. “Among the common denominators is that each of them was born with innate talent and an unquenchable dedication to their art form. Countless other cinematographers deserve this or similar recognition. More than 300 of them were cited on ballots. Our purpose is to say thanks and to pay tribute to those who were chosen, and also to use this platform to draw attention to the largely unrecognized role that cinematographers have played and will continue to play in the future.” There are some 6,000 ICG members, including cinematographers and camera crews who create the images for virtually all studio features and narrative films produced for U.S. television networks and cable outlets, in addition to most of the best commercials, music videos and documentaries, and television news. List of Most Influential Cinematographers “Blade Runner called for extremes (in lighting),” he said. “It’s naturally a wonderful vehicle for this kind of lighting. It’s theatrical, but it will be very real on the screen. In this film, I think you will just accept it … it transcends theatricality.” The cinematographer’s career was sadly affected and shortened by a long bout with Parkinson’s Disease, which was diagnosed in 1978. While he did some of his best work after that diagnosis, including a memorable music video concert, U2: Rattle and Hum, the disease took his life in 1996 at the age of 61. The word “fearless” inevitably comes up when other cinematographers speak about Hall. During a rehearsal for a jailhouse scene on In Cold Blood, he noticed that raindrops rolling down a window cast shadows that looked like tears on a killer’s face. Hall showed director Richard Brooks what was happening, and they agreed to shoot the scene that way. Hall called it a “happy accident,” a frequent occurrence in his films. “The truth is always in a character’s eyes,” Nykvist said. “It is very important to light so the audience can see what’s behind each character’s eyes. … Everything comes down to lighting. There are so many types of light … gentle light and dream-like light, dead light, which is very flat with no shadows, and clear light which has more contrast, but not too much. There are many other types of light, and the differences are subtle.” About 15 years ago, while mentoring students at the American Film Institute, he offered simple and eloquent advice, “…human beings need to evolve … if we stood still we would still be painting graffiti on the walls of caves … we have a lot more freedom today to express ourselves … films are so sensitive we can come very close to achieving what we see in our minds…” Wexler said at an early point in his career, “People in this industry speak with a louder voice than the average person. We can make people laugh or cry. We can make them feel passion, love or hate. Because of the potency of our voice, we can’t separate the content of the movies we make from the art … that’s how history will judge us.” Zsigmond has routinely experimented and expanded the visual vocabulary used by cinematographers. In McCabe and Mrs. Miller, he “pre-flashed” the negative before it was exposed, creating a desaturated patina that helped to define a sense of time and place. Studio executives wanted to fire him, but director Robert Altman conjured up a “white lie” and blamed the desaturated look on the film lab. Zsigmond is currently collaborating with director Woody Allen on an untitled project. For Other
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Billy Bitzer, ASC began his career during the 1890s. He invented such
innovative techniques as the close-up, soft focus, fade-outs and backlighting
as components of the grammar of visual storytelling. Bitzer also pioneered
selective focus techniques for unobtrusively drawing attention to an
actor or action in a scene. In 1906, Bitzer teamed up with an ordinary
actor named D.W. Griffith, who became a legendary director. Their collaboration
continued for nearly twenty years, resulting in such classic motion
pictures as Broken Blossoms, Intolerance and Birth of
a Nation. Griffith
is still revered by movie fans and critics around the world, while
the memory of Bitzer has dimmed. ICG President George Spiro Dibie,
ASC observes that the reason cinematographers don’t get the credit
they deserve is that their work is meant to be transparent to audiences. 
Jordan Cronenweth, ASC was born and raised in Los Angeles, where his
father was a studio portrait photographer. He studied his father’s
techniques for using light and shadows to interpret faces and began
his career in the still lab at Columbia Pictures. Cronenweth said that’s
where he learned to take “one picture at a time.” He seized an opportunity
to work as an assistant cameraman on a crew led by Conrad L. Hall.
Cronenweth worked with Hall on Hell in the Pacific, Harper, In
Cold Blood and other films. He earned his first cinematography credit in
1970 for Brewster McCloud. Cronenweth’s credits include Zandy’s
Bride, The Front Page, Cutter’s Way, Altered States, Gardens of Stone
and Peggy Sue Got Married, for which he received an Oscar nomination. His
artful and interpretive rendering of images in the 1982 classic Blade
Runner is considered a milestone in the evolution of filmmaking. 
Conrad L. Hall, ASC was born and raised in a literary environment in
Tahiti, where his father, James Norman Hall, co-authored Mutiny
on the Bounty and other classic novels. He studied filmmaking at the University
of Southern California, and spent the first decade of his career shooting
commercials, industrial films and pick-up shots until he finally penetrated
the Hollywood mainstream. Hall earned ten Oscar nominations during
a career that spanned five decades. He took top honors for Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, American Beauty, and Road
to Perdition. His other
nominations were for Morituri, The Professionals, In Cold Blood,
Day of the Locust, Tequila Sunrise, Searching for Bobby Fischer and A
Civil Action. 
James Wong Howe, ASC was an immigrant from China who was brought to the
United States by his father and stepmother at the age of five. He began
his career at 17 as a janitor at Lasky Studios in Hollywood, when motion
pictures were still silent and black and white, and cameras were hand
cranked. Howe perfected such counter-culture filmmaking techniques
as low-key lighting, handheld cameras and deep focus. Todd Rainsberger
quoted the cinematographer in his book James Wong Howe Cinematographer, “We (cameramen) had to find our own way, find our own methods. … There
wasn’t much technique in those days, we just experimented.” Howe had
to overcome racial prejudices that barred him from becoming a citizen
of the United States. He became one of the defining filmmakers in the
history of the industry, earning Oscars for his cinematography on The
Rose Tattoo and Hud, and nominations for such classic films as Algiers,
Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Kings Row, The North Star, Air Force, The
Old Man and the Sea, Seconds and Funny Lady.
Sven
Nykvist was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1922. He studied portrait
photography and worked as a focus puller in Rome during the mid-1940s.
Nykvist
filmed documentaries during the beginning of his career. He collaborated
with Ingmar Bergman for the first time in 1961 on Through a Glass
Darkly.
They made some 20 films together, including Cries and Whispers
and Fanny and Alexander, which won Oscars for cinematography. Nykvist photographed
some 80 other motion pictures with other directors, including such
memorable films as Agnes of God, One Day in the Life of Ivan
Denisovich and The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which earned him another Oscar
nomination.
Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC was born and raised in Rome, where his father
was a projectionist at a film studio. He began studying photography
at a technical school at the age of 11 and continued his education
at the state film school in Rome. Storaro earned one of his first cinematography
credits for The Conformist (Il Conformista), the beginning of his fruitful
collaborations with director Bernardo Bertolucci. Storaro’s subsequent
body of work includes three Oscars for Apocalypse Now, Reds and The
Last Emperor. He earned an additional nomination for Dick
Tracy. His
credits also include 1900, Taxi, Tango, Tucker: A Man and His
Dreams and Little Buddha. He also won an Emmy Award for his cinematography
on the miniseries Dune. 
Gregg Toland, ASC was born in Illinois in 1904. He began his filmmaking
career as an office boy at the age of 15 and advanced to assistant
cameraman the following year. His experiments with lighting and lenses
were revolutionary during the 1920s and ‘30s, a time when cinematographers
were inventing a new language. Toland pioneered the use of deep focus
and complex composition as techniques for visually punctuating dramatic
scenes. At a time when most successful cinematographers were working
under contract to major studios, he preferred collaborating with independent
filmmakers, including Samuel Goldwyn. Toland’s credits include Citizen
Kane, The Long Voyage Home, Intermezzo, Dean End and Les
Miserables,
for which he earned Oscar nominations. He took home the Academy Award
for Wuthering Heights. His career was prematurely ended in 1948 when
a fatal heart disease claimed his life at the age of 44. 
Haskell Wexler, ASC was born and raised in Chicago. He joined the U.S.
Merchant Marines while he was still in his teens, because he felt it
was his patriotic duty to participate in the battle against the Nazis.
After the war, Wexler worked on documentaries and industrial films
in Chicago. His early credits include such landmark independent features
as Hoodlum Priest and America, America. That led to an opportunity
to film Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? which earned an Oscar for cinematography.
His subsequent film Bound For Glory also took top honors at the Academy
Awards, and his other Oscar-nominated works include One Flew
Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Blaze and Matewan. Wexler is currently shooting Silver
City directed by John Sayles. 
Gordon Willis, ASC was the son of a make-up man at Warner Bros. Studio
in Brooklyn during the 1930s. Willis tried his hand at acting in summer
stock theaters, but his interest soon shifted to stage lighting and
still photography. He spent four years in the U.S. Air Force during
the Korean War working on the production of training films. After the
war, Willis was an assistant cameraman on documentaries and commercials.
He earned his first narrative credit as a cinematographer for End
of the Road in 1970. His credits include such classic films as Klute,
The Godfather, The Paper Chase, The Godfather: Part II, All the President’s
Men, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Zelig and The Godfather: Part
III. He earned
Oscar nominations for the latter two. Willis was considered a maverick
during most of his career, because he routinely bent and broke the
rules. He created a visual metaphor for a period look in The
Godfather,
and explored new ground by using shadows on Marlon Brando’s eyes to
conceal what was in the godfather’s heart. Those innovative tactics
sound routine today, but that’s because so many others have followed
paths that Willis blazed. 
Freddie Young, ASC was born in England in 1902, just seven years after
the first movie theater opened. He went to work as a lab technician
at Gaumont Studios at the age of 14. Young once observed, “My family
was concerned that I had chosen a precarious profession that could
disappear at any moment.” He earned his first credit in 1926 for Victory
1918. His subsequent credits include such classic epics as Doctor
Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia and Ryan’s Daughter, which won Academy Awards for
cinematography. He was also Oscar-nominated for his work on Ivanhoe
and Nicholas and Alexandra. When you think about these films, chances
are you don’t remember the words, but who can forget the images of
Lawrence in the searing desert with the sun, a huge red ball, sitting
on the edge of an endless horizon? Who will ever forget Zhivago trudging
through the frigid wasteland of Siberia, and the emotions the images
evoked?
Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC was born and raised in rural Hungary during the
German Nazi and Russian communist occupations of his native land. Shortly
after he graduated from the national film school in Budapest, Zsigmond
and fellow cinematographer and friend Laszlo Kovacs, ASC filmed a spontaneous
uprising against the communist regime and its brutal suppression. They
carried the documentary footage out of the country and defected to
the United States. Zsigmond worked in still and X-ray film labs, shot
portraits, and made 16 mm industrial, medical and student films for
about a dozen years. In 1971, he got an opportunity to film an independent
feature, The Hired Hand. His body of work includes such classics as
McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Deliverance, The Rose and The
Ghost and the Darkness. He earned Oscar nominations for The
Deer Hunter and The River,
and took home the Academy Award for his work on Close Encounters
of the Third Kind.