Professional Profiles - June 09

JOHN OGDEN ACS 

Director of Photography   -  June 2009
 

John Ogden spent the last five years steadily researching his powerful anthology of photographs Portraits from a Land Without People. For the early stages he managed to fit in his demands as a DOP but 2008 was a full time effort to get the book funded and completed. Now that this work of passion is a critical and commercial success (proceeds go to the Jimmy Little Foundation’s work improving Indigenous health) he is now back energised and seeking interested film projects.

 Ogden was one of the early cinematographers to see the value of shooting with the RED camera. Although his first love remains film, he enjoys the similarities of shooting RED and digital stills. He purchased a RED in 2008 and was invited to shoot the short film Conscience by new director Camille Chen. It was a perfect project for the RED camera. Conscience screened at Cannes this year and the producer received quite a few requests from filmmakers to use the film as a textbook for RED photography. There are a number of other short films scheduled into 2010.

"CONSCIENCE" Director Camille Chen

Over the last three decades Ogden has worked in practically all genres of Film making: drama, with experience in both feature films and television;documentaries in diverse locations such as Burma, the Himalayas, Turkey and the USA; MTV production (including work for Prince, INXS, Max Q, Jimmy Barnes, and John Farnham); and more recently commercials in China, Korea,
Japan, SE Asia, Europe, as well as North and South America. His client list isbroad and includes Mercedes, Peugot, Toyota, Mitsubishi, GMH, Daewoo,Hyundai, Ford, McDonalds, Coca Cola, KFC, Telstra, Optus, Hewlett Packard,Westpac, ANZ, CUB, Lion Nathan, Vidal Sassoon, Kelloggs and Cadbury.

Ogden’s visual skills are not limited to cinematography. He is a well known photographer, and has also dabbled in painting. Although his 2007 portrait of Madam Lash dipped out on the Archibalds it did win the Refusé exhibition that year. His stills work has been published and exhibited around the world, and in 2008 he was honoured with a major show at the Kluge-Ruhe gallery in Virginia, USA.

Ogden has earned a reputation for creative cinematography that enhances the storyline and propels it forward. His hallmark is memorable images through composure, sumptuous lighting, and appropriate camera moves. Each genre has taught skills: documentaries and photojournalism have taught the use of available light; MTV how to get dramatic and innovative images often without much in the way of resources; advertising has honed skills in economy of time; and drama the ability to make a story believable. The RED is the latest tool he has deployed to create beautiful pictures without compromising a tight budget, but Ogden is not restrained when choosing the appropriate medium for a project.

See www.johnogdenacs.showreelfinder.com