Cinematographer Steven Poster, ASC has spent five decades behind the camera, and helped lead the industry from film into digital along the way. He's shot for Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg, and John Carpenter, and served as president of both the American Society of Cinematographers and the International Cinematographers Guild. He also oversaw one of the first digital intermediates ever finished, lensed the cult classic Donnie Darko, and shot the iconic "Like a Prayer" video for Madonna.

We explore his origins learning his craft from a Chicago newsreel shooter, his career-long drive to innovate new technologies and techniques, his approach to daylight and diffusion, and why he thinks DPs shouldn't operate their own cameras.

Grab Sweet Spot, my free exposure tool that gives you simple, scene-accurate metering in stops, for every camera: https://cullenkellycolor.com/toolkit/sweet-spot. Steven called it a “game-changer” after using it on his most recent project.

Chapters

0:00 — Welcome

0:24 — Chicago beginnings and union politics

5:55 — Seeing digital coming: NHK, Sony, and the HD experiments

9:51 — Stuart Little 2 and one of the first digital intermediates

14:00 — Three weeks on the soccer field: working blind

20:22 — Donnie Darko: 22 days, anamorphic, and an untested film stock

27:35 — Shooting daylight: polarizers and diffusion

30:34 — Coming up with Vilmos Zsigmond

33:42 — Blade Runner: the tunnel shot

44:00 — Collaborating with Richard Kelly on Donnie Darko

50:28 — Why a DP shouldn't operate their own camera

51:55 — Working with Sophia Loren

56:09 — Lessons from Ridley Scott

59:51 — Core principles: don't be afraid

1:02:30 — Next-generation display technology