David Watkin (cinematographer), Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

David Watkin (cinematographer)

British cinematographer

Date of Birth: 23-Mar-1925

Place of Birth: Margate, England, United Kingdom

Date of Death: 19-Feb-2008

Profession: writer, cinematographer

Nationality: United Kingdom

Zodiac Sign: Aries

David Watkin BSC (23 March 1925 – 19 February 2008) was a British cinematographer, an innovator who was among the first directors of photography to experiment heavily with the usage of bounce light as a soft light source.
He worked with such film directors as Richard Lester, Peter Brook, Tony Richardson, Mike Nichols, Ken Russell, Franco Zeffirelli, Sidney Lumet and Sydney Pollack. In 1985, Watkin won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on Out of Africa.
He received lifetime achievement awards in 2004 from the British Society of Cinematographers and the cinematographic-centric Camerimage Film Festival in Lódz, Poland. In Chariots of Fire, he "helped create one of the most memorable images of 1980s cinema: the opening sequence in which a huddle of young male athletes pounds along the water's edge on a beach" to the film's theme music by Vangelis.