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“ I was born in Johannesburg South Africa in April 1945. My grandparents escaped Lithuania to South Africa around 1914. My parents escaped South Africa to London in 1952. By the time I was 18 I was working as a photographer and I shared a studio and an agent in Pimlico. This led to notable assignments with the Beatles and the Who along with regular visits as a special photographer to Shepperton Studios for British Lion Films. I enjoyed the atmosphere of film production so much that I successfully pursued the Royal College of Art Film School in South Kensington where I met fellow student Tony Scott and eventually worked as a clapper loader on his student film photographed by Chris Menges. Working simultaneously as a photographer and shooting student films, I decided on graduation to sell my still cameras and hopefully become a cinematographer myself. Long periods of unemployment followed but gradually commercials filled my calendar and eventually led to my first movie “Breaking Glass” in 1980 directed by Brian Gibson and operated by Kelvin Pike. Without doubt when Tony Scott invited me to shoot “The Hunger” in 1981 my path was set because that production led directly to my joining Local 600 in New York City and then to an invitation from Francis Ford Coppola to shoot “The Cotton Club” at Astoria Studios. Later I was thrilled to shoot Lethal Weapon 1 and 2 for Richard Donner in Hollywood and was privileged to be nominated for an Academy Award for Barbra Streisand’s “Prince of Tides” and Joel Schumaker’s “Batman Forever”. The most deeply influential Director of my career has been Mike Nichols whose production of “Angels in America” took a year to photograph and introduced me to both his genius as a Director, his friendship and by further good fortune the new technologies involved in a four month Digital Intermediate with renowned colourist Steve Scott. I was honoured with a lifetime Achievement Award at CamerImage in 2007 and have continued my work both in Film, Stills and Printmaking. I completed Principal Photography for Playwright John Patrick Shanley’s “Wild Mountain Thyme” in Ireland last November 2019 and now live with my wife Deborah in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico."
Stephen Goldblatt ASC BSC
