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CINEMATOGRAPHER · 1925–2004 · ITALY

Carlo Di Palma

Colour used as emotion: painted landscapes for Antonioni, warm Manhattan interiors for Woody Allen.

Born
1925
Died
2004
Country
Italy
Field
Cinematographer
Carlo Di Palma
Portrait: Unknown author, Public domain

KNOWN FOR

  1. 1966Blowup
  2. 1964Red Desert
  3. 1986Hannah and Her Sisters
  4. 1987Radio Days

WHY THEY MATTER

Shot Antonioni's Red Desert and Blowup, then a long run of Woody Allen pictures; Silver Ribbon for Red Desert and a BAFTA nomination for Blowup.

THE LIFE

Di Palma grew up in a poor Roman family; his mother sold flowers on the Spanish Steps and his father was a studio camera operator, whom he watched at work as a boy. He worked his way up in Italian studios, shared the camera on Divorce Italian Style and made his name with Michelangelo Antonioni, shooting Red Desert and Blowup. In the 1980s and 1990s he became Woody Allen's regular director of photography, from Hannah and Her Sisters and Radio Days to Mighty Aphrodite. He also directed a handful of films, and died in Rome in 2004.

Source: Wikipedia

Also born in 1900–1929

1901–1988 · Japan · Cinematographer

Asakazu Nakai

Kurosawa's camera for rain, mud and vast colour battlefields.

Seven Samurai, 1954Source: Wikipedia

1901–1996 · United States · Cinematographer

John Alton

Hard shadows and pools of light that defined film noir.

T-Men, 1947Source: Wikipedia

Gregg Toland

1904–1948 · United States · Cinematographer

Gregg Toland

Deep focus, with near and far planes sharp at once.

Citizen Kane, 1941Source: Wikipedia