New York City native Charles Libin found himself fascinated with film as a teenager, and his hometown fuelled that curiosity as it served as a backdrop to some of the most seminal films of the 1970s. The teen was able to track down filming locations and witnessed the making of a number of pictures, including Taxi Driver, Marathon Man, Three Days of the Condor, Network and The Warriors.
After discovering that he was most fascinated by cinematography, the young man researched what he called the “common denominators” of the films he loved. ASC members “Gordon Willis, Owen Roizman, Victor J. Kemper, Michael Chapman, Conrad L. Hall and Adam Holender were the alchemists behind the lenses on many of them,” he says.
Libin took a photography class at the YMCA during high school, which led him to pursue street photography and further education at SUNY Purchase School of Film and Media Studies. During college, Libin worked as a bartender at the NYC nightclub Hurrah with fellow SUNY Purchase student and future ASC member Paul Cameron. The two gathered all Purchase students in possession of 16mm cameras and filmed the B-52’s performance of “Rock Lobster” at Hurrah, which began a long journey of Libin photographing rock and roll musicians.
Libin developed a love of lighting, which led him to working in NYC as a gaffer on independent features, commercials and music videos, including collaborating with Fred Murphy, ASC as a gaffer for insert shots on The State of Things. He then transitioned into serving as an operator and 2nd-unit DP on the series Boardwalk Empire, Mildred Pierce, The Night Of, Fosse/Verdon, Escape at Dannemora and Halston, among others.
As a cinematographer, Libin’s credits include the features Sister of the Groom, En el séptimo día and Remote Control as well as the documentaries Bruce Springsteen’s Letter to You, The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash, The New Yorker Presents and Rise: Rave Outlaw Disco Donnie.
In addition to his work behind the camera, Libin taught a cinematography workshop at SUNY Purchase and has served as a mentor for teen filmmakers at Reel Works in Brooklyn. He also worked with gaffer David Skutch to design the Ruby 7, a luminaire distributed by Arri.
New ASC member Loren Yaconelli grew up surrounded by the film industry — her father, Steve, was a veteran cinematographer who became a member of the ASC in 1996. Her mother, Yvonne, served as a production supervisor. As a student at California State University, Yaconelli studied psychology, but soon after graduation she found herself following in her father’s footsteps.
Yaconelli first entered the camera department as a film loader and climbed the ranks. She worked as a 2nd AC on the comedy features Never Been Kissed and The Out-of-Towners before moving up to 1st AC on projects such as the procedural drama Without a Trace and documentary feature The Kid Stays in the Picture.
She then moved on to serve as camera operator on such series as Heroes, True Blood, Life, Brothers & Sisters, Lie to Me, In Plain Sight and Ray Donovan. During this time, mentors including Sidney Sidell, ASC and Matthew Jensen, ASC gave Yaconelli opportunities to shoot additional photography, and she served as 2nd unit DP on Glee.
Yaconelli was able to transition from operator to director of photography on Ray Donovan, and since then, she has photographed series including House of Lies, Shameless, The Chi and Animal Kingdom.
She is also the first daughter of an active ASC member to be invited to join the Society.
The cinematographer currently serves on the National Executive Board of Local 600.
