Bio
Promoting positive community and artistic growth for the movie-going audience.
Born in Southern California, close to Hollywood, Steven's career as the Director of Photography on 30 plus feature films, documentaries, and various television shows have produced significant works that combine a visceral immediacy with a conceptual richness. Dinosaur for Disney Studios combines 1300 visual fx shots and is considered one of the most expensive films ever made; the low budget Indie Joyride stars Tobey Mc Guire & Benicio Del Torro; On The Lot, a series Prod. by Steven Spielberg & Mark Burnett, rounds the diversity of his work.
His first serious art making was through still photography and began to discover the aesthetic possibilities a visual medium could offer. He worked with this medium as a hobby for many years, always with a "design" approach. Steven continued these interests in the Boy Scouts and later attained the highest rank--Eagle Scout.
Double majors in Media & Communication from UC San Diego, significantly prepared him for graduate study in film production at the University of Southern California, where he received my Master's degree from USC's renowned School of Cinematic Arts. He studied under renowned Oscar-winning cinematographers where he developed innovative means of expression using the motion picture camera to create contextually rich and powerfully symbolic works of arts that utilized technical advances to broaden the aesthetics of the visual medium. His work in television at NBC, ABC and ESPN sports helped develop my skills as a cinematographer.
Steven emboldened the X-Games shoot with IMAX, used 3D to capture futuristic films for the U.S. Government, and even lensed a documentary shot on location and underwater in Antarctica. His working methods have been highly creative and divergent; notably, Nicolas was the very first feature shot with High Definition cameras. Working with the latest high definition cameras, veteran directors Irwin Winkler, James Cameron, and the infamous David Zucker, to name a few fueled his love for filmmaking. Academy Award-nominated actors Hillary Swank, Samuel Jackson and Virginia Madson influence the passion for cinematography and imprint his oeuvre.
Steven has enjoyed the collaboration of many talented people and has gone back to USC as a guest lecturer to pass on the aesthetics of the cinematography to a new generation of filmmakers. Some recent quotes about his work: "A box office behemoth if there ever was one, "Dinosaur" is an eye-popping visual spectacle that serves up a vivid picture of what the planet may have looked like when dinosaurs ruled the earth...nothing like you've ever seen before." ~ Variety; "He's fantastic with the camera on his shoulder -- excellent instincts when it comes to diving in on a prop or an actor's reaction...a DP who has the goods and the personality to match ." ~ Charles Winkler; "He's efficient with equipment and time, bringing back unique and spectacular imagery, while always concerned with the bottom line." - David Mackay, Producer/Director.
Grateful for a fantastic family and group of friends, Steven makes sure that new clients are welcomed in a way that has become customary in Hollywood.
"I know that no single approach is the right one for every film so I strive with a range of modalities to treat each script with a visual richness all its own." ~Steven Douglas Smith
