At 98, Butler is the oldest member of the ASC, and has credits on movies including “Jaws” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” “I feel confident that the future will need the talent we have,” he says. “The sense of composition, color and motion will need talent, no matter the format. Adapt, we must. But the future can be ours.”
Deakins has lensed more than 80 projects since 1975, ranging from documentary shorts to major blockbusters, and won an Oscar for “Blade Runner 2049” last year after 13 previous cinematography nominations. But it’s never been about the awards for him: “The best part of ASC is being able to meet and spend time with other cameramen. It really is a society of friends.”
The German-born cinematographer is the youngest ASC member, with “I Origins” and the pilot for George R.R. Martin’s sci-fi/horror series, “Nightflyers,” among his credits. “Film is the closest medium to dreaming,” he says. “Creating a dream-like visual experience for an audience, with the tool set of cinematography, is a powerful way to convey complex ideas and emotions.”
DP on “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Blow,” Kuras shot Martin Scorsese’s Bob Dylan doc, “Rolling Thunder Revue.” “I was the fifth woman to be accepted into the ASC,” she says, “and I’m damn proud to be a part of 100 years of our unique peer group of kindred spirits where — in the end — the only numbers that will matter are T-stops and lumens.”
“To this day, the most memorable experience in my career was sitting at the head of the table at my membership meeting and seeing the Mount Rushmore of cinematographers before me,” says Libatique, whose credits include “Requiem for a Dream,” “Black Swan” and last year’s “A Star Is Born” remake.
Currently shooting the sequel of “A Quiet Place,” Morgan is the only woman to be in both the ASC and the U.K.’s BSC. “It’s about being a small part of the bigger whole,” she says of those memberships, “and being a part of these historic societies with all your heroes — the people you’ve watched and admired and learned from. You’re now part of that group and everyone’s there to support each other.”
The first woman nominated for a cinematography Oscar thanks to her camerawork in 2017’s “Mudbound,” Morrison segued from that to Marvel blockbuster “Black Panther.” But it’s always the craft that brings her home: “I don’t believe art is determined by the tool used to create it, but instead by the emotion and empathy it incites.”
“Cinematography is a medium to express sensations and emotions through composition, lighting, texture, and movement,” says the Mexico City-born cinematographer, whose credits include “Brokeback Mountain” and the upcoming “The Irishman.” “I love imagining how a life experience could feel and finding a way to visually convey that on screen.”
Quentin Tarantino’s go-to DP (including the latest, “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”) has already won three Oscars: for “JFK,” “The Aviator” and “Hugo.” “One of the most beautiful things we can experience is collaboration,” Richardson says. “It moves in mysterious ways. In the end, it is often the true source of cinema.”
“At the core, the ASC is about advancing the art of cinematography,” says Young, who has served as DP on “Arrival” and “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” “Sometimes it takes 100 years to get to the realization of who you really are, and I think the ASC is trying to do that.”