A biography for Rachel Morrisonhasn’t been written yet.
“I'll never know what happens behind closed doors or why I don't get hired for things.”
“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.”
“For me, it's always been about the work - it wasn't about, 'Let's go break some ceilings.' I just wanted to tell an important story and do the best work I can. Everything else is secondary.”
“Usually, if you notice good cinematography, then the cinematographer's failing. I try to make light feel like it's always motivated and natural in some way and hope that the lighting goes unnoticed.”
“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.”
“I kind of grew up with a camera in my hand.”
“Life is unpredictable, and I feel, to some extent, lighting and cinematography should be a reflection of that.”
“I believe in naturalistic lighting, which isn't to say natural light.”
“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.”
“You just sort of get used to being one of the only women on set, so it's really refreshing to start to enter a time when that's not the case anymore.”
“'Fruitvale' set the bar for what I wanted to do with my career, which was to make films that had consciousness and messaging in an entertaining package. Once I hit that mark, I never wanted to go back.”
“I might be one of the very few people in this industry who doesn't have a 'me too' story.”
“It's hard to go back to shooting contemporary apartment interiors after you shoot something like 'Mudbound.'”
“Sometimes it just takes a little longer to get to your destination, but if you make sure to enjoy the journey, eventually you will get there.”
“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.”
“It's always a challenge to shoot a period film and not have it look like you hit the tea stain button in post.”
“I think lighting is a reflection of what is at stake emotionally in a movie.”
“Cinematography is so much about instinct and intuition - you want the same range of experience going into behind the camera as what you see in front of it. Your life experience will come through the lens.”
“Photos have the real task of bringing exposure to places that we otherwise don't have much awareness of.”
“I gravitate much more toward realism, realism in the work that I do, but magical realism got me hooked on film. I think it was my first time realizing that there was something besides popcorn movies.”