My experience - I'll never know what happens behind closed doors or why I don't get hired for something, but I've never had an experience that made me feel any less than.
The big trick is just to get to a point where we're just considered DPs, and we're not 'female DPs.' When you think of the word 'doctor' or 'teacher,' you don't think gender. And it would be nice to get to a place where 'DP' meant either and 'director' meant either and 'gaffer' meant either.
My lighting tends to use contrast as a reflection of the stakes in the scene. The higher the stakes, the more I feel I can get away with an exaggerated contrast.
There's something so inspiring about being in real locations, where you can feel the tactile qualities from the layer of paint that has been chipping off and the hundreds of years that have been lived in the space.
I think Marvel's incredibly supportive of young auteurs and really let them do their thing and support their vision. They give you a sandbox to play in, but it's a pretty massive one.
When you're so used to operating the camera, it's an extension of your eye and your heart and your head.
The biggest difference for me was that I operated almost every frame on 'Mudbound,' and I didn't operate on 'Black Panther.'
Documentaries are inherently instinctual; you're constantly moment to moment, determining what the best place for the camera is to tell the story, usually in service of natural lighting.
The focus has to be about making good work. I don't ever want to be hired for a job because I'm a woman. And I don't ever want to be recognized for a job because I'm a woman.
I might be one of the very few people in this industry who doesn't have a 'me too' story.
I love the team aspect of filmmaking.
I did photography in summer camp; I did it in high school. The only hard decision I've had to make was whether to go towards photo or film. And I ultimately realized that the type of photo I was interested in was actually photojournalism. And it's a very individualist career, whereas film is a very team-driven medium. So that's why I chose film.
It's always a challenge to shoot a period film and not have it look like you hit the tea stain button in post.
We shot 'Mudbound' in the South in the summer, which meant we were working in extreme heat and humidity at all times and that it could go from glaring sun to overcast skies to pouring rain in a matter of minutes, often shifting multiple times a day.
I shot 'Fruitvale Station' on super-16, and then I shot a movie called 'The Harvest' on 35mm, and then I shot 'Little Accidents' on 2-perf 35.
It would be naive to say that you could make a movie on film for the same price you can digitally.
I don't love cinematography that's very flashy because I find that it keeps the audience from becoming a part of the film; it becomes sort of self-reflective.
My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was four. And she was re-diagnosed when I was seven or eight, and again when I was 13, and my dad was very unhealthy, too. I was living on the edge of mortality my entire childhood.
The first female DPs that I was aware of were Ellen Kuras, Mandy Walker, Nancy Schreiber, Amy Vincent, Sandi Sissel, Maryse Alberti and Tami Reiker. You look for a role model as somebody who looks like yourself and is doing what you want to do; they were the handful.
To me, as an audience member, movies always come to a screeching halt when they get to their action scenes. They always feel like they drag on to me.
