The American Society of Cinematographers has welcomed new members Jomo Fray, Jeffrey Waldron and Eric Branco.
Fray was a Film Independent Spirit Award nominee for All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, while his work on Nickel Boys saw him earn ASC Spotlight Award and Spirit Award wins, as well as a Camerimage Golden Frog nomination.
Speaking to American Cinematographer, Fray recalled the moment he discovered cinematography, which he compares to “learning to breathe for the first time… I could truly communicate with other people. I could express emotions they could see and feel through the camera.”
Meanwhile, Waldron’s credits include feature films Poetic License, You Hurt My Feelings and Haunted Mansion (2023), as well as TV series Little Fires Everywhere, The Morning Show, Chad Powers and Daredevil: Born Again.
Waldron told American Cinematographer that Disney’s The Jungle Book (1967) kick-started his love for visual storytelling.
While he originally dreamed of a career in hand-drawn animation, “the 16mm camera on the stand at his local animation club proved especially intriguing”, per American Cinematographer Magazine’s Rachael Bosley, sparking “a wild obsession with cameras and film [that] ultimately led me toward live-action storytelling”.
Finally, Branco, known for award-winning features Clemency and The Forty-Year-Old Version, as well as the series Let the Right One In, Bupkis and Monarch, claims visits to “the great museums of New York” and several New York City Public School teachers were key influences in his formative years.
American Cinematographer revealed: “He got his first break as a cinematographer when a friend was asked to shoot a music video in Tanzania at the last minute, but didn’t have a passport. Branco, who was gaffing at the time, had one, so he got the job.
“The music video was the biggest production he’d ever worked on, and it gave him a calling card.”
These new additions follow the recent news that wildlife filmmaker Dereck Joubert ASC and Julia DP Claudia Raschke ASC had joined the society.
Meanwhile, the ASC also revealed that The Grand Budapest Hotel DP Robert Yeoman ASC will receive its Lifetime Achievement Award.
