I knew I wanted to be a cameraman after seeing The Empire Strikes Back. Being eight years old, I couldn’t articulate the effect it had, but it left a profound impression on me.

Growing up in a small country town in Australia, the closest I could get to working in the film industry was at movie cinema. As fate would have it, following High School, I became a cleaner at that very theater where I’d watched The Empire Strikes Back a decade earlier. Soon, I was loading film reels as the cinemas projectionist and felt as though I had made it. I was being paid to watch movies.

Every Friday and Saturday night, peering through a porthole from within the projection box, I unknowingly began my education in cinematography, studying light, shadow, and movement on screen.

That summer, as luck would have it, I met a family friend at a barbecue who happen to mention that his uncle was the cameraman on films such as Predator, Romeo and Juliet, and Clear and Present Danger. His name? Don McAlpine.

Less than two weeks later, I would again come across Don’s name as I was reading a copy of Variety magazine. The article mentioned that he was currently shooting a movie in San Francisco called “Nine Months”. Armed with that information, I decided it was in my best interest to track Don down. Determined, I left over twenty messages at he’s production office and anxiously awaited his return call. Four days later, he returned my call and following a brief conversation agreed to meet me upon his return to Australia.

Several months later, that inspiring and humbling meeting with Don was a career turning point. After shooting my first short film I sent it to Don, who graciously critiqued my work and offered sage advise.

Shortly thereafter, I moved from the country to the city, and spent the next decade working my way up the set hierarchy, from P.A. to 1st A.C.

As a student of the craft, I continued to shoot small films, continuously challenging my skills and eye. As it would turn out, those lessons in working with limited lights and equipment would eventually prove to be an asset following the success of a small indie horror film that brought me stateside.

Many decades have passed since I was that curious eight-year-old boy peering up at a screen, yet I still feel that same internal excitement of seeing film. Instead of popcorn and a frozen coke in my hands, it’s a panhandle and light meter.