Why Cinematographer Roger Deakins Is the Master of Light & Shadow

Few cinematographers have earned the renown and exposure merited by Roger Deakins, longtime shooter of choice for the Coen Brothers, who boasts a resumé stacked both with Oscar-winners and instant-classics. The Shawshank Redemption, Doubt, A Beautiful Mind, Skyfall, Sicario—the list goes on and on. Hearing him talk about his work is fascinating and entertaining, from the way he can instantly dissect an image into its disparate colors, textures, and forms, to self-deprecating remarks like, “I’m just a cameraman.”

But perhaps its best to let his work speak for itself, as video essayist Thomas Farmer does in his fresh supercut, Roger Deakins: Of Light and Shadow. As the name suggests, the video focuses on how Deakins captures the interaction between light and it’s counterpart, rather than simply pointing the camera at the action. Revel in the diversity of his vision, from sinister firelight, to the surreal dream sequences of The Big Lebowski, below.

See more of Thomas Farmer’s work on his Vimeo page.

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