in its bluntness but the other day when I said I was a cinematographer the person I was talking to skipped all the dreaded ‘what have I seen that you have made’ or ‘who is the most famous person’ etc and went straight for the jugular with ‘are you successful at it?’. It is actually a much better question. My wife sensing an evening of internalised naval gazing jumped in to save the day with ‘well, it depends on how you define success?’ And that is the question really.

Historically, in these blogs, I have focussed on practical solutions to creative decisions in the hope that it might help someone else at some point. This time I am going to ask something more fundamental, what could success look like? The paths you take as a younger DoP will affect your options in later life so I think this is a question that warrants some time, preferably when you are starting out. The midlife dear-diary question often quoted is ‘would the 20 year me be happy with where I am now?’. I think turning the question around is much more useful and asking at 20 ‘where do I want to be in 15 years time?’

As a general rule people who ask about ‘what I’ve done’ are disappointed as most of my films are not on prime-time and it’s not in my nature to talk about famous people so the conversation swiftly moves on. I have colleagues who I’ve known for many years who work on much bigger projects than me and there is definitely a part of me that grumbles that those shoots have not come my way. We make our choices fairly early on and those choices often dictate how our careers develop. I’ve worked with many commercials directors who lament that they have never made a film, despite being hugely successful in commercials. I know a great DoP, with a good agent, who started doing second unit on TV and is now known as the second unit DoP so struggles to get main unit work. It is easier for producers if they can categorise you. I have become known as someone who does brand films and commercials day to day and indie films when the right stories come along. I can see now that I am unlikely to change this perception and I think that’s fine with me.

What I have lost in terms of budget I have gained in terms of control, less budget tends to equate to less people to need sign off! There can be a real sense of adventure that the directors who I’m lucky enough to work with bring to indie films. There is less of a machine to move, more opportunity to seek out moments that work spontaneously and I do find for me, that is very important. I am fortunate to work with highly skilled big teams and the latest tools but that is on my commercials work – not features.

I remember talking to a highly established news cameraman once who was appalled that I had to speak to a director to agree how we might cover a scene. I couldn’t understand how he could see this process so negatively and I guess there will be people working on huge productions who won’t understand what I see as the ’up sides’ of working with small units. Different things are important to each of us, they help us prioritise and whilst I admit that it would be lovely to be offered bigger budget productions, it is not the main driver for my decision to join a film or not.

One thing that is common to the success of all DoPs, regardless of budget, is the success of the images you make. What constitutes a visually successful picture. What visually excites you? What natural leaning do you have for composition, lighting and camera movement? We all adapt these for each project but there has to be a foundation to the approach and that foundation is the DoPs individual aesthetic preferences. For me the keys are;

Depth – even in tight locations I will always try to get something in the foreground, or an open door through to another space. I want to feel that the frame we are showing is a choice, an extract from a bigger space and I do that by having things break the edge of the frame, things that we know will continue past the edge of the frame if only we were allowed to see them. The stills below are all from films that I have shot.

Contrast – There must always be a brighter area and a darker area otherwise you have no reference. If it’s a night scene the viewer won’t recognise that most of the frame is dark if there is no brighter area to give it reference. You do often see frames that are dark throughout and recognise that they are dark but, unless you are watching in the perfect space, it can lead to a frustrating experience of squinting to find the subject you should be able to see. If you have a bright area the other parts of the shot can still appear dark without losing the information for the viewer.

Framing– If we are seeing an actor in frame then their position is key. If there is a power imbalance between 2 actors in a frame their position in the frame must reflect that. Sloppy framing ruins a shot for me. Framing is also inherently linked to the lens focal length or field of view. It creates the relationship between the cast and the environment and trust me, I always have an opinion on that.

Focus – Such a huge and under-rated tool. How much should be in focus – what T stop to use to give the audience the information they need or to signpost the main point of the shot. I will often decide the stop I’m shooting at before I light the shot as it is such a fundamental decision. One of my favourite films ‘Road to Perdition’ shot by the late Conrad Hall ASC has a beautiful example of focus at work. We track straight into one of the lead actors faces but he is completely out of focus as the focus follows 2 people walking away in the back-gound, only to pull focus to the actor in centre shot once the track has settled. It is very beautiful and poetically sets up the motivation for the rest of the events in the film.

I thought it would be interesting to put a few examples of my work here in case people want to see how these foundations show themselves. The first one is a reel I put together to support an unsuccessful pitch to work on the last series of Craith S4C (or ‘Hidden’ on BBC2). It’s a shame it didn’t come my way but you win some, you lose some! All the films in this montage were directed by Chris Crow and I choose the scenes that I felt would translate best for a television drama.

This is completely different, shots from Solo! a coming of age/romantic comedy feature that was produced by Dudley Dog Films and directed by Nic Cornwall

Lastly I thought maybe I could go back a long way. This is a montage from the second feature I shot, but the first one on a cinema style camera. My first (The Refuge, Dir. Nigel Barker) was on a digi-beta camera that we then transferred to film and I’m very proud of it but don’t have any footage from it. This film, Playing Burton (Dir. Wyndham Price, Spinning Head films) was shot on a RED ONE and I learned an enormous amount from it. It also won Best Feature at the 2014 BAFTA Cymru. You can see the basic foundations of ‘how I see’ in this film. What I shoot now is the product of everything I have shot, the result of continual looking, telling stories and learning that started in the 1990’s. I count that as a success!