In Remembrance: David Watkin

     David Watkin, the cinematographer who won an Academy Award for his work on Out Of Africa, has passed away on February 19, 2008 in Brighton, England. He was 82.

     In addition to his work capturing the beauty of the African veldt in Out Of Africa (1985), Watkin was also instrumental in crafting the slow-motion images of Olympic athletes running on the beach that became emblematic of the 1981 film Chariots Of Fire.

     Born on March 23, 1925 in Margate Kent, Watkin served in World War II. After the war he became first a camera assistant and then a director of photography for British Transport Films. He moved on to commercial work in 1960.

     It was while working in commercials that he first met director Richard Lester, who invited him to work on the Beatles’ first film A Hard Day’s Night. Watkin would team with Lester for several more films including Help (1965), How I Won The War (1967), The Bed-Sitting Room (1969), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers (1974), Robin And Marian (1976) and Cuba (1979). Their collaboration on The Knack… And How To Get It (1965) would win the Palme D’or at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival.

     Watkin also worked with several other directors including Tony Richardson (The Hotel New Hampshire, 1984), Franco Zefferelli (Endless Love, 1981 and Tea With Mussolini, 1999) and Sidney Lumet (Gloria, 1999). He also shot Moonstruck (1987) for Norman Jewison, Catch 22 (1970) for Mike Nichols, The Devils (1971) for Ken Russell and Yentl (1983) for Barbara Streisand. He also did uncredited work shooting the memorable title sequence for 1964 James Bond adventure Goldfinger.

     Known for his pioneering work for developing the use of soft and bounced light, Watkin developed what became known as the Wendy Light, a lighting rig that is suspended in the air and used for photographing night time exteriors.