American Cinematographer

Hailing from Sydney, Australia, Zoë White, ASC, ACS recalls sparking to photography as a teenager, when she took black-and-white photos with her grandfather’s Pentax as her family traveled in Italy. “It made me aware of being able to frame the world with my own eyes,” she says.

Jarin Blaschke, ASC is a two-time Academy Award nominee for collaborations with director Robert Eggers, Nosferatu and The Lighthouse. He won an ASC Spotlight Award and Independent Spirit Award for The Lighthouse and received an ASC Award nomination for Nosferatu. The native of Westminster, California became obsessed with photography at age 11 after his mother gave him a point-and-shoot camera, and his fascination grew through summer workshops in Super8mm animation and night classes in photography.

Whether a longtime veteran or a relative newcomer, each cinematographer AC tracked down at this year's Sundance Film Festival expressed a strong sense of nostalgia as this year's edition marked the last in Park City, Utah. Lol Crawley, ASC, BSC (Wicker) notes that he still secures jobs in America based on the work showcased in the 2008 drama Ballast — his first feature to premiere at Sundance, which earned him the festival's Best Cinematography award.

Henner Hofmann, ASC, AMC — a champion for Mexican filmmaking opportunities and education — died January 30, 2026 in Cuernavaca, Mexico at the age of 75. Hofmann was born in 1950 in Mexico City, into a family rooted in the arts. His mother, Kitzia, of French origin, was a stained-glass artist and sculptor whose work included major architectural commissions.

Jomo Fray, ASC vividly recalls the moment he discovered cinematography, which he compares to “learning to breathe for the first time … I could truly communicate with other people. I could express emotions they could see and feel through the camera.” After earning a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and an MFA in cinematography from New York University, he got a break when cinematographer Shawn Peters hired him as a camera trainee on a music video for R&B artist Cody Chesnutt.

The fifth and final season of Stranger Things begins in Hawkins, Indiana, 18 months after the events of Season 4 have ended. The military has taken over the quarantined town and is searching for Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), who hides out in the woods at Jim Hopper’s (David Harbour) cabin. The rest of the gang has been scouring the Upside Down for the villain Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) through covert "crawls," but with no progress, their patience is wearing thin.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled their 98th Academy Awards nominees this morning (full list here), and you’ll find each of the nominees for Best Cinematography below in episodes of the ASC's Clubhouse Conversations interview series: Autumn Durald Arkapaw, ASC for Sinners Michael Baumanfor One Battle After Another Darius Khondji, ASC, AFC for Marty Supreme Dan Laustsen, ASC, DFFforFrankenstein Adolpho Veloso, ABC, AIP for Train Dreams Final voting for the Academy Awards...

The February 2026 issue presents coverage of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy and Die My Love, and profiles of ASC Lifetime Achievement Award honoree Robert Yeoman, ASC; ASC Presidents Award honoree Cynthia Pusheck, ASC; and Curtis Clark ASC Technical Achievement Award recipient Eastman Kodak Co. Also featured is a look at the evolution of video assist. Mandy Walker ASC, ACS reflects on the joys and challenges of shooting on location.

The editors of American Cinematographer will moderate a series of “Behind the Lens” filmmaker discussions starting this week at the Canon Creative Studio at Park City, Utah, open from Jan. 23-26 (11:00 am-5:00 pm). The Canon Creative Studio is located at the Park City Museum at 528 Main St. and admission is free. Registration is done on-site and entry is limited to accredited filmmakers and photographers.

American Cinematographer: What convinced you that Andrew Lesnie was the right cinematographer for the Rings trilogy? Peter Jackson: I spent some time trying to decide who I’d like to use, and the irony is that Andrew was one of my very early choices. He was unavailable at first, so we met with several other cinematographers. We eventually heard through the grapevine that Andrew was available, which was a stroke of immense luck for us, and we flew him over to New Zealand.