{"id":137197,"date":"2025-11-17T01:34:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T01:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/137197\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T01:34:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T01:34:13","slug":"asc-ac-book-fair-hosts-signings-talk-with-team-deakins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/137197\/","title":{"rendered":"ASC\/AC Book Fair Hosts Signings, Talk With Team Deakins"},"content":{"rendered":"

On November 12, ASC members, associates and staff, local crew and guests gathered at the ASC Clubhouse in Hollywood for the ASC\/American Cinematographer Book Fair. <\/p>\n

The event was sponsored by Nanlux, Cinelease and Band Pro. The Nanlux team delivered their own announcement, regarding Lending Library \u2014 a program which, for the past two years, has allowed local film students from USC, UCLA, AFI and Chapman to rent out the company\u2019s entire equipment catalog free of charge. Nanlux Americas\u2019 Amanda Fritz, who founded Lending Library, was on hand to explain that the program is now open to anyone with a COI \u2014 \u201cprofessionals and newcomers alike,\u201d she noted \u2014 who are looking to access its unique offerings.<\/p>\n

Kicking off the day was a conversation with Team Deakins \u2014 married creative partners Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC and James Ellis Deakins \u2014 moderated by ASC 1st Vice President Eric Steelberg. The occasion was marked by the release of Roger’s book, Reflections on Cinematography,<\/a> and their wide-ranging discussion covered Roger\u2019s unconventional path from young art student to two-time Academy Award-winning cinematographer, as well as their move into a Digital Intermediate on the Coen brothers\u2019 O Brother, Where Art Thou? \u2014 a new process for its time that required complex digital-file and workflow management, which, James said, played to her core strength of solving problems. <\/p>\n

\nTeam Deakins meets with a reader.<\/p>\n

More on Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC<\/p>\n

How Deakins Crafted the Look of O Brother, Where Art Thou?<\/a><\/p>\n

Deakins’ Six Favorite Films<\/a><\/p>\n

While reading Reflections in preparation for the talk, Steelberg\u2019s main takeaway was that as a fellow cinematographer, he was not alone. \u201cWe all deal with the same challenges and ups and downs,\u201d he told American Cinematographer. \u201cRoger\u2019s really aren’t that different. It’s really humbling to share such a similar experience with somebody who’s so idolized by so many of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the panel wrapped, the Book Fair went into full swing, the ASC courtyard abuzz with friendly connections made over coffee and bagels. Many waited in line to share a few words with Team Deakins and have their copies of Reflections signed, but the event\u2019s signings expanded well beyond that: Attendees chased down ASC members to ink their personal copies of Our First 100 Years<\/a> \u2014 the album-sized tome chronicling the Society\u2019s storied history \u2014 and ASC members Hiro Narito and Roy Wagner signed their own respective books, Depth of Field: Life and Work of a Cinematographer<\/a> and A Cinematographer\u2019s Life Beyond the Shadows<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\nHiro Narita, ASC (above), author of Depth of Field: Life and Work of a Cinematographer, and ASC members Scott Cunningham and Charlie Lieberman (below, from left) add their signatures to attendees’ copies of the American Cinematographer Manual.
\n<\/p>\n

Wagner noted that his new book is less focused on technical aspects of the craft, and more on answering the question, \u201cHow do you survive Hollywood?\u201d The veteran cinematographer, who was among the first to help bring dark, cinematic lighting to television, said, \u201cI survived for 55 years by doing it my own way, which was never easy. The book is about, \u2018If I can survive, so can you.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Of course, the Book Fair\u2019s range of offerings also included touchstone technical resources, like the American Cinematographer Manual<\/a> and The Cine Lens Manual<\/a>, co-authored by ASC associate and AC technical editor Jay Holben and ASC member Christopher Probst. But while the knowledge attainable from these books is essential to the profession, the application of that knowledge, as Team Deakins stressed in their talk, always circles back to storytelling. \u201cIt’s all about the story: What does the story need?\u201d James said to Steelberg and the audience. Keith Jefferies, a camera operator for Local 600 who observed the talk, noted, \u201cI like that they talked about storytelling. We don\u2019t do this just to light pretty images \u2014 and while that might lead to the creation of high art, it’s ultimately about relating stories to other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nAbove: ASC associate and AC technical editor Jay Holben (center) signs a reader’s copy of American Cinematographer’s Shot Craft: Lessons, Tips & Techniques on the Art and Science of Cinematography. Below: Christopher Probst, ASC signs a reader’s copy of The Cine Lens Manual, which he co-authored with Holben.
\n<\/p>\n

Through their podcast and website, Team Deakins garner praise for their willingness to be transparent about their filmmaking process and industry experiences. Both Reflections

\nand their talk at the Clubhouse serve as two more examples of this supreme openness. \u201cThe most incredible thing about Roger is that he is so generous with information,\u201d said ASC 2nd Vice President John Simmons. <\/p>\n

\nAttendees gather in the ASC’s outdoor courtyard.<\/p>\n

To Team Deakins, this generosity is simply in the spirit of community and collaboration that the Society strives to foster. \u201cI remember, when I first came here, how much the members I met were willing to share their knowledge,\u201d Roger said in between meeting attendees. \u201cThis is an extension of that \u2014 you give back.\u201d Added James, \u201cThe ASC is a great organization because it does constantly give forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

For books by Society members and to subscribe to American Cinematographer<\/a>, visit the ASC Store<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On November 12, ASC members, associates and staff, local crew and guests gathered at the ASC Clubhouse in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5960,422,28422,85267,85265,85270,146,85,46,29975,85266,68633,85269,85268,79860,22138,3878,1264],"class_list":["post-137197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-american","tag-book","tag-cinematographer","tag-copies","tag-deakins","tag-ellis","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-james","tag-manual","tag-members","tag-noted","tag-reflections","tag-roger","tag-said","tag-team","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}