Why every filmmaker needs a great still photographer

A filmmaker's primary weapon of choice - generally speaking - is a film camera, for obvious reasons. We're all about the moving pictures here, and unless you're doing a stop-motion film, having a still photographer might not be at the top of your production priorities.

It should be.

We discovered just how valuable a good photographer is when we had our friend Jonathon Bowman on set to take some behind-the-scenes photos during one of our rehearsals. We are enormously grateful to have such talent with us! Thanks Jon!!

While the rest of us were busy critiquing the movement of an actor's eyebrow, or standing around deep in thought, trying to figure out how to make a scene work, Bowman was capturing fantastic candid moments:

Kaity Adam. Photo by Jonathon Bowman

Cheryl Lee. Photo by Jonathon Bowman

Colin Shantz. Photo by Jonathon Bowman

We've got Bowman's photographs all over our website, blog, and facebook page and man, does it look good.

Another practical reason for having a great photographer on set is that when preparing submissions for festivals, media releases, etc, a quality still photograph is essential for posters, articles and the like. So instead of sending them a screenshot - which never looks as good as a photograph - you can send them a properly composed and processed photograph.

I leave you with a gem from a recent photo shoot on location showcasing the lads of Rosco Films.
We will show this photo to each one of our cast and crew before shooting.

The message is simple: This guy is in charge.