12/06/09

Seamus McGarvey, Cinematographer

Seamus McGarvey is an Oscar-nominated cinematographer, who has worked on an incredible range of feature films, promos, and commercials. He’s very talented, very lovely – and we’ve just launched his website.

Based in Edinburgh, but born in Armagh, Seamus’s background was in stills photography before going to film school – and some of his personal stils work will feature on the site in coming weeks. Soon after graduating, he moved into working with film, and began a collaboration with artist Sam Taylor Wood, which continues to this day, resulting in a number of awards, including a Turner Prize nomination. Seamus and Sam have just wrapped on Nowhere Boy, a feature film (Sam’s first) about John Lennon’s childhood.

As well as working with Sam, and other artists including Derek Jarman, Seamus has shot over 100 promos for artists including PJ Harvey, Dusty Springfield, The Shaman (Yay!), U2, Terry Hall, Leftfield, Orbital, UB40, The Pogues, The Rolling Stones, Elton John and the famous Torn video for Natalie Imbruglia.

In recent years his features work has seen him become one of the most sought-after DOPs in the business. His Oscar Nomination was for Atonement, directed by Jo Wright, with whom Seamus also just completed The Soloist, starring Robert Downey Jr and Jamie Foxx. (Check out Seamus’ awesome promo for Elton John’s “I Want Love”, directed by Sam Taylor Wood and starring a single-take, just back-from-the-brink Downey Jr). In recent years he has completed No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency with the late Antony Minghella, World Trade Centre with Oliver Stone, The Hours, High Fidelity, and also The War Zone, produced by another Apt client, Portobello Pictures.

Seamus is an old Edinburgh friend of Apt, and we teamed up with our Glasgow friends Marque to put together this simple but elegant site to show off his work. In coming weeks each of the film clips will begin to be enhanced with a voiceover from Seamus talking about the project, the shots, and anecdotes from the shoot.

For keen cinematographers and DOPs, there is an extensive Q&A with Seamus in the “About” section.

in 1998, Seamus joined the British Society of Cinematographers and was awarded the Royal Photographic Society’s prestigious Lumiere medal for contributions to the art of cinematography in 2004.

Go check out Seamus McGarvey’s website.

Posted by James in Apt Studio work.

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