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CINEMATOGRAPHER · 1930–1992 · SPAIN

Nestor Almendros

Natural window light and magic-hour exteriors.

Born
1930
Died
1992
Country
Spain
Field
Cinematographer

KNOWN FOR

  1. 1978Days of Heaven
  2. 1970The Wild Child
  3. 1980The Last Metro

WHY THEY MATTER

Won the Academy Award for Days of Heaven; four Academy Award nominations, the most for any Spanish person; Cesar Award for The Last Metro.

THE LIFE

Almendros was born in Barcelona and at eighteen joined his exiled father in Cuba, where he wrote film reviews. He studied film at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. He worked closely with Francois Truffaut, Eric Rohmer and Robert Benton. Terrence Malick hired him after admiring The Wild Child, and Days of Heaven won him the Academy Award.

Source: Wikipedia

Also born in 1930–1959

Vilmos Zsigmond

1930–2016 · United States · Cinematographer

Vilmos Zsigmond

Pre-flashed, muted colour and atmospheric haze.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1977Source: Wikipedia

1931–2014 · United States · Cinematographer

Gordon Willis

Top light and deep underexposure that earned him the name the Prince of Darkness.

The Godfather, 1972Source: Wikipedia

1934–2001 · United States · Cinematographer

John A. Alonzo

Naturalistic, cinema verite-inspired photography of the New Hollywood.

Chinatown, 1974Source: Wikipedia