Robert Elswit

Robert Christopher Elswit, ASC (born April 22, 1950) is an American cinematographer. He has collaborated with Paul Thomas Anderson on six of his films and won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for There Will Be Blood. Elswit has also collaborated with directors and screenwriters Tony and Dan Gilroy on all of the six films that either brother directed.

Biography
Elswit was born in Los Angeles. An early short film he worked on was the 1982 television adaptation of Ray Bradbury's short story All Summer in a Day. Elswit worked as a visual effects camera operator at John Dykstra's Apogee Productions Inc. on each film, including Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Empire Strikes Back and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, before shooting made-for-television films and shows. Elswit has been a fierce defender of shooting on film, and whenever possible avoids using digital cameras. Images shot digitally, he said, have "no texture, no grain." He started shooting digitally, starting with Nightcrawler. Elswit has worked with George Clooney several times. He shot his black and white, multiple-Oscar nominated films Good Night, and Good Luck. Elswit shot the film in color, and converted the film into black and white in post production. According to Elswit, the technique preserved the subtlety of the colors (as complex shades of blacks and greys) and made the overall look much richer in the final film. Elswit was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Good Night, and Good Luck, but lost to Dion Beebe for Memoirs of a Geisha. Elswit won the award for There Will Be Blood in 2008. Elswit has cited early independent filmmaker John Cassavetes as a major influence. Elswit is a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and worked there as a teaching assistant. Elswit is the godfather to the actor Jake Gyllenhaal.

Television
TV movies

TV series

Awards and nominations
Academy Awards

American Society of Cinematographers

BAFTA Awards

Boston Society of Film Critics

British Society of Cinematographers

Camerimage 

Chicago Film Critics Association

Daytime Emmy Award

Houston Film Critics Society

Independent Spirit Award

Los Angeles Film Critics Association

National Society of Film Critics

New York Film Critics Circle

Online Film Critics Society

San Diego Film Critics Society

Satellite Awards

St. Louis Film Critics Association

Other awards