Born: June 27, 1959, Ziebice , Poland
Opinions. In assessing Kaminski's ability to handle a wide range of photographic challenges, Steven Spielberg has noted in American Society of Cinematographers: "As a cinematographer, Janusz is not 'one size fits all' he's much more of a chameleon. He takes the stories he does very seriously, and he marks up the scripts. He tells a cinematography story on top of the writer's or director's story, and he designs the photography according to the beats and measures of the narrative. Because of that, he's going to shoot differently on Jerry Maguire than he would on The Lost World. Over the course of his career, Janusz has put together a collection of amazing and completely different looks from picture to picture." "Those who think cinematography is simply the mechanical act of capturing an image on film have never spoken with a cinematographer. Or more precisely, a cinematographer with heart," said Janusz Kaminski, ASC. “Janusz Kaminski, ASC is one of today's most highly regarded cinematographers” said Hollywood Film Festival.
Early days. Kaminski attended Sepolowska high school in Wroclaw, Poland. He went to Greece in 1980 and from there, after Jaruzelski imposed martial law in Poland, he went to Austria where he asked for political asylum. In 1981 he immigrated to the United States and initially worked in Chicago’s factories. After saving money he attended Columbia College in Chicago from 1982 to 1987, and took up film making as a profession before transferring to the prestigious AFI Conservatory, where he graduated in 1988 with an MFA degree.
Professional career. His debut as a cinematographer occurred with 1989 Lisa (Gary Sherman directing). He also took part in the production of Not of This Earth and Nothing Common. Kaminski’s independent artistic career started in 1990 with Prairie Stories. His 1991 acclaimed TV film, Wildflower, directed by Diane Keaton was noted by the renowned director Steven Spielberg. Spielberg suggested cooperation and hired him to shoot the television production Class of '61. This was followed by eloquent black-and-white photography for 1993 Schindler's List filmed in Poland, Trouble Bound (Jeffrey Reiner directing) and The Adventures of Huck Finn (Steve Sommers directing) , 1994 Little Giants (Duwayne Dunham directing), 1995 How to Make an American Quilt (Jocelyn Moorehouse directing) and Tall Tale: The Unbelievable Adventures of Pecos Bill (Jeremiah Chechik directing), 1996 Jerry Maguire (Cameron Crowe directing), 1997 Amistad where he set out to simulate the Colonial era of American history, and he succeeded in spectacular fashion and The Lost World: Jurassic Park II, 1998 Saving Private Ryan where he discovered different visual textures with an imaginative mix of camera films, lab processes and specialized techniques, such as "deconstruction of the slickness that you usually get with modern lenses" – in Spielberg's words. These were followed by 2001 A.I. Artificial Intelligence and by 2002 Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can. Finally 2005 Munich.Ultimately Kaminski has photographed all of Spielberg's movies since 1993's Schindler's List, with the exception of Jurassic Park. In 2000 he completed his directorial debut with a supernatural thriller Lost Souls and said he hopes to now switch between directing and being a director of photography. Kaminski was married to actress, Oscar winner, Holly Hunter from 1995 to 2001. In 2004 he married ABC reporter Rebecca Rankin.
Honors and awards.
1988 Eagel Award at the Illinois Film Festival for Lisa
1993 Oscar for black-and-white cinematography for Spielberg’s Schindler's List
1993 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award for Schindler's List
1993 New York Film Critics Circle award
1993 Los Angeles Film Critics Association award
1997 Nomination for Oscar for Spielberg’s Amistad
1998 Online Film Critics Society Award
1998 Golden Satellite Award
1998 Oscar for cinematography for Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan
1998 Fellow of American Film Institute
2001 Nominated for Oscar for cinematography for Spielberg’s Munich
2005 Nominated for Oscar for cinematography for Spielberg’s A.I. Artficial Intelligence
Sources:
International Cinematographers Guild
Wikipedia
The New York Times
Hollywood Film Festival
True Luminaries
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