Timothy Richardson DOP Wins Best Cinematography.

When I first sat down for a lunch meeting with director Clayton Landey we instantly had a connection. Clayton is a veteran in the industry so he has many years of experience behind and in front of the camera.

We talked about the visual language and how we wanted it to be in service of the story. He mentioned he loved my verite-style camera work and wanted the camera to be a character in the film. We knew we didn't want the camera to be locked off on sticks and figured an observational perspective was the way to go.

Thematically the film touches on dementia, and how that affects the relationship between parent and child. It's also about mortality and grief. We wanted to represent the subject matter truthfully so I used a lot of natural light to photograph the characters to keep the film grounded in realism.

The more I evolve as a cinematographer I realized the power of simplicity and the mundane. Capturing the everyday life of this character and her battle to remember the good times drew a direct connection to my own outlook on life. Life can be so busy and it’s only when you stop and realize time is the most important virtue while we’re here. This allowed me to be really present while we were shooting.

I was very fortunate to work with an incredible camera team. Dwayne Young was my 1st AC and Laniqua Richardson was 2nd AC. We shot with a small camera package to aid in the verite-style camera movement. I used a Sony mirrorless camera and spherical cinema primes because we were faced with a lot of low-light situations. I’m a fan of picking the right lens for the right moment so I leaned on a vintage prime which gave me an interesting optical aesthetic that allowed me to explore.

Thank you to the Southern Shorts Film Festival and the judges’ panel for this acknowledgment. I would also like to deeply thank the entire crew and cast that poured themselves into this story. Thank you for trusting me to capture an honest depiction of human emotion, because at the core of it is love. The film is currently on its film festival circuit and I hope it’s able to screen at a theater near you.