President’s Desk — August 2023

I’d like to begin my first column as ASC President by talking about the magazine you are reading. American Cinematographer has been responsible for inspiring cinematographers for generations. We at the ASC hear consistently that it has served as an introduction to the Society for nearly every cinematographer, and it was much the same story in my case.

My father was a director of television variety specials in the 1960s and ’70s. Our family had a subscription to AC, and I can remember reading about great ASC cinematographers like Stanley Cortez, William Fraker, Conrad Hall, Haskell Wexler and Vilmos Zsigmond, and international icons like BSC member Geoffrey Unsworth. I’d look at the ads that featured exotic equipment, film laboratories and beautiful cameras and lenses. I knew there was a whole world represented in these pages that I knew nothing about, but I could appreciate the passion and artistry the cinematographers spoke of. It became a dream of mine to have the kind of wisdom these great people embodied, to be the sort of person I imagined them to be, and to eventually earn the privilege of working in the world of Hollywood films.

Print came to real life when I was 14 and a film company arrived in my family’s area to shoot at a neighboring home. My curiosity took me on a route through backyard bushes and across property lines to catch a glimpse of the production at work. A crewmember asked me if I was Billy Jr., and I said no and that I lived nearby. A few minutes later, I met Billy Jr., and he turned out to be the son of the cinematographer. He was my age, and I think he was relieved to have someone he could hang around with. So, he showed me the set and introduced me to his father — and, from the pages of AC, I met William A. Fraker, ASC.

Billy Jr. and I watched the shoot from quiet vantage points that he seemed to know from his worldly experiences with set visits. At one point, we observed as a grip raised a net sider next to an arc lamp. After the grip tightened the stand and walked away, the net drooped in front of the light like a piece of old laundry. Billy Jr. said, “Uh oh — that’s not good.” Along came Bill Sr. to personally fix the net while muttering under his breath, “C’mon, guys.” The grip returned to assist, and they both seemed amused by the mishap.

I asked Billy Jr. if his dad ever got upset with his crew, and he said that he did not. William Fraker’s crew was with him for decades, and I got to see firsthand the respect he had for them. The Fraker family seemed to personify everything I had hoped being a cinematographer would be. Based on what I’d read in American Cinematographer, I felt like I knew them already.

The magazine itself began in 1920, and it’s had only a handful of editors over more than 1,200 issues. As a periodical, it’s one of the most notable created by an artistic society, as evidenced by its global readership. American Cinematographer has received dozens of major publication awards, but nobody in its offices touts those achievements all that much; the staff’s hearts belong to the readers and our members, and they are devoted in their mission to bring our art form to the world. They are a humble and dedicated group of people who, in some cases, have shown decades of commitment to the Society. Like any ASC member, the magazine’s staffers embody a greater commitment: to create a meaningful legacy.

Please, enjoy this magazine as you read! Study the articles, review our ads, and try to imagine how you might use these tools to create onscreen moments that define your storytelling in a way that is uniquely yours.

As for me, I may not write a letter every month, but I will say hello when I feel I have something to share that I think you’ll find valuable.

Best regards,
Shelly Johnson
ASC President