Born: ?, Detroit, USA.

Education: Stanford University [as a National Merit Scholar]; American Film Institute [MFA in Directing, June 1997].

Career: 'I liked photography a lot, but never considered going to film school. My best friend in high school got a Super 8 camera. He showed me a short film that he made, and I thought it was really cool. After that, we made some short films together, including one while we were vacationing in New York. By then I was in college. I scripted and directed it. We both acted and shot parts of it. It was a black-and-white film that won a student award at the Ann Arbor Film Festival in Michigan. [...] I went to Stanford University. I had to make a big decision about what I was going to major in. I didn't know anyone in the movie business or any of the arts. Thinking that I could become a filmmaker was like a fantasy. Everyone I knew in Detroit was in the automotive industry. Then, a miracle happened. I was trying to decide what I wanted to do when a student I knew got me a job as a P.A. on a graduate film project about the Chinese New Year. Basically, I carried the tripod. But, I was very excited to be a filmmaker, and everyone thought we were cool. One day, we were setting up to do some interviews, and I saw Francis Ford Coppola getting ready to shoot a scene with Gene Hackman. They were shooting a scene for 'The Conversation'. That was a moment of truth in my life. I remember thinking that if I didn't try to become a filmmaker I'd end up regretting it for the rest of my life. [...] During my senior year, I was in an exchange program in England that dealt with both British drama and documentaries. I saw four or five plays a week and wrote my final paper on Harold Pinter, a great English screenwriter. It was a great experience for me, because I was a guy from Detroit where I wasn't exposed to that much culture other than music. [...] I went to New York and looked for work. At first, I worked in a camera store and took a lighting course at NYU. Nick Smith gave me my first job as a janitor at Mother's Sound Stage in New York. He taught me how to build sets and use electricity without killing myself. After two years, he did me a favor by firing me so I could collect unemployment; this allowed me to survive while working on micro-budget films as a camera assistant. [...] My first job was working for Nancy Schreiber on a documentary about women comediennes. I made up for not knowing anything by working for free. [...] Someone else I knew at Stanford got me a job as an electrician on a Roger Corman film called 'Rock 'n' Roll High School'. The plane ticket to Los Angeles cost me $620. They paid me $150 a week, and it was a four-week shoot, so I actually lost money. But, it was the smartest thing I ever did because Dean Cundey was the cinematographer. I was pretty good with cables because I had worked on the stage in New York, but everything had a different name. At first, they thought I was the dumbest electrician there ever was, but I learned the lingo. I worked for free as a cinematographer on some low-budget films in New York and was paid for working as an electrician and eventually as a gaffer in Los Angeles. I always chose what I thought was the more creative experience over money. Dean Cundey once offered me a paid job as an electrician and I turned him down because I was going to shoot a movie for free. I lived on a very frugal budget for many years. I remember that it was a big deal the year that I earned $10,000.' [From a conversation with Bob Fisher on the KODAK OnFilm website and 'American Cinematographer' magazine, July 2006.]

Ph commercials. Ph music videos with a: Dr. Dre, Fab Five Freddy, Queen Latifah, David Lee Roth, F. Gary Grey, Snoop Dogg, a.o. Taught workshops for almost a decade at the Maine Photographic Workshops [Maine Media Workshops; was instructor on a number of short films, e.g. 'Spotless' (dir: Rogier; ph: James, Dolly & John; dv/b&w-c/4m)], as well as guest classes at Idyllwild High School, NYU & the AFI. Appeared in the doc 'Cinematographer Style' [2005, Jon Fauer; ph: J. Fauer, Jeff Laszlo, Brian Heller & David Morgan].

Awards: ASC TV Award [2002] for 'Attila'.

1978        Home Movies/The Maestro [Brian De Palma] c; addph; ph: James L. Carter

1981        Forty Deuce [Paul Morrissey] c; cph: François Reichenbach & Stefan Zapasnik; + assoc prod

1982        The First Time/Doin' It [Charlie Loventhal] c

1982        In Our Hands [Robert Richter & Stanley Warnow] 16mm/c; doc/90m; cph: Ed Lachman, Oliver Wood, Thomas Sigel, Tom

                    Hurwitz, Don Lenzer, Alicia Weber, a.o.

1982        Vortex [Scott B. & Beth B.] 16mm-35bu/c

1983        Storytelling [Kay Armatage] 16mm/c; doc/57m; cph: Mark Irwin & Christopher Lowry

1983        Not for Publication [Paul Bartel] c; 2uc; ph: George Tirl

1984        Cocaine/Mixed Blood [Paul Morrissey] c; addph (+ prod); ph: Stefan Zapasnik

1984        Streetwalkin'/City Streets/Cookie [Joan Freeman] c; 2uc: Abe Schrager & Richard Brooks

1985        Double Negative [Sam Irvin] ?; short/?m; cph: Maryse Alberti

1985        Seven Minutes in Heaven [Linda Feferman] c; 2uc: Oliver Wood & Robert Chappell; addph: Judy Irola

1985        Sid and Nancy [: Love Kills] [Alex Cox] c; addph; ph: Roger Deakins

1987        Spike of Bensonhurst/Throw Back! [Paul Morrissey] c

1988        A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master [Renny Harlin] c; 2uc: Christopher Tufty; 3uc: Russell Carpenter

1988        Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills [Paul Bartel] c; addph: Martin Schaer & Paul C. Babin

1989        Hell High/Raging Fury [Douglas Grossman] c

1989        Nightbreed [Clive Barker] c; ph Los Angeles; ph: Robin Vidgeon

1990        29th Street [George Gallo] c

1991        Diary of a Hitman [Roy London] c; addph; ph: Yuri Sokol

1992        Aspen Extreme [Patrick Hasburgh] c; cph: Robert Primes; 2uc: Jan Kiesser & Edgar Boyles

1992        Boxing Helena [Jennifer Chambers Lynch] c; addph; ph: Frank Byers & Bojan Bazelli

1995        Blah, blah, blah [Julie Delpy] 16mm-35bu/c; short/12m

1998        The Joyriders [Bradley Battersby] p/c; 2uc: Richard Benda & Yiannis Samaras

1999        Red Letters [Bradley Battersby] c

1999        Moulin Rouge! [Baz Luhrmann] c; co-addph; ph: Donald McAlpine

2001        Secretary [Steven Shainberg] c; 2uc: Richard Benda, John Foster, Scott Kevan & Sonja Rom; + small part

2003        Meet Market [Charlie Loventhal] HD/c; + small part

2003        Pray for Tucson [Bruce Ferber] ?; doc/?m

2003        The Californians [Jonathan Parker] c

2005        Good Morning Baby [Lisa Leone] c; short/13m; ep 'Glamour Reel Moments'-series

2005        Euthanasia [Adrian Grenier] c; short/17m

2005        Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus [Steven Shainberg] c; addph; ph: Bill Pope

2006        Suburban Girl [Marc Klein] c

2007        Searchers 2.0 [Alex Cox] dv/b&w-c; + small part

2007        Days of Wrath [Celia Fox] scope/c

2007        The Wisdom of the Pretzel [Dani Menkin] USA adaptation of 'Hochmat HaBeygale' (2002, Ilan Heitner; ph: Oded Kirma);

                    scheduled to start filming in Spring 2008; status unknown

2008        Teenage Paparazzi [Adrian Grenier] c; doc/?m; addph: Daniel Sharnoff

2008        All's Faire in Love [Scott Marshall] c; or ph Mark Irwin

2008        Rage [Sally Potter] HD-to-35mm & D-Cinema/c

2009        Repo Chick [Alex Cox] dv/c

2009        Twelve [Joel Schumacher] HD/c

1983        Hellfire [John David Coles] tvm/27m for PBS-tv

1983        Tales from the Darkside [pilot 'Trick or Treat' dir by Bob Balaban] pilot (1983) & 89-part series, 1984-88

1983        The Brass Ring [Bob Balaban] tvm; 2uc: Jonathan David

1986        Little Miss Perfect [Marsha Mason] tvm/45m; a CBS-tv 'Schoolbreak Special'

1986        Tonight's the Night/The Game of Love [Bobby Roth] tvm

1986        The Gift of Amazing Grace [Thomas Schlamme] tvm/60m; an ABC-tv 'Afterschool Special'

1987        Sharing Richard [Peter Bonerz] tvm

1988        Original Sin [Ron Satlof] tvm

1990        Criminal Justice [Andy Wolk] tvm

1994        Texas Justice [Dick Lowry] 2-part tvm

1994        A Horse for Danny [Dick Lowry] tvm

1996        All Lies End in Murder/Behind Every Good Man [Andy Wolk] tvm

1997        Two Came Back [Dick Lowry] tvm

1998        Atomic Train [David Jackson & Dick Lowry] 2-part tvm/v; miniature ph: Betzy Bromberg

2000        Attila [the Hun] [Dick Lowry] 2-part tvm; 2uc: Richard Benda

2001        Follow the Stars Home/A Second Chance [Dick Lowry] tvm

2002        Little John [Dick Lowry] tvm; ep #213 'Hallmark Hall of Fame'-series

2002        Kingpin [5 ep dir by various] 6-part series, 2003; other ph: Tim Ives (pilot)

2002        The Lone Ranger [Jack Bender] tvm

2003        Miss Match [pilot dir by Darren Star] 18-part (7 unaired) series, 2003; other ph: Ron García & Russ Alsobrook

2004        Entourage [ep #2 'The Review' dir by Julian Farino (JF), #3 'Talk Show' dir by JF, #4 'Date Night' dir by Daniel Attias,

                    #5 'The Script and the Sherpa' dir by Adam Bernstein, #6 'Busey and the Beach' dir by JF, #7 'The Scene' dir by David

                    Frankel & #8 'New York' dir by JF] series, 2004-present; 1st season, 2004; other ph: Anghel Decca (pilot)

2005        Entourage [13 ep dir by various] 2nd season, 2005; see 2004

2006        Entourage [ep #23 'Aquamom' dir by Julian Farino (JF), #24 'One Day in the Valley' dir by JF, #25 'Dominated' dir by JF,

                    #27 'Crash and Burn' dir by Patty Jenkins & #29 'Strange Days' dir by Mark Mylod] 3rd season, 2006-07; see 2004

2007        Football Wives [Bryan Singer] pilot

2008        How to Make It in America [Julian Farino] pilot

1978        Rock 'n' Roll High School/Girls' Gym [Allan Arkush & (uncred) Joe Dante & Jerry Zucker] electrician; ph: Dean

                    Cundey

1979        The Fog [John Carpenter] co-electrician; ph: Dean Cundey

1981        Eating Raoul [Paul Bartel] add gaffer; ph: Gary Thieltges

1983        China Lake [Robert Harmon; short] co-electrician; ph: R. Harmon

1986        My Demon Lover [Charlie Loventhal] 2ud New York; 2u c.op: James McCalmont; ph: Jacques Haitkin

1987        Walker [Alex Cox] co-add c.op; ph: David Bridges

1988        Voices of Sarafina! [: Songs of Hope and Freedom] [Nigel Noble; mus doc/85m] co-c.op; ph doc unit: John Hazard

                    & Gary Steele

1997        The Alarmist/Life During Wartime [Evan Dunsky] 2ud; ph: Alex Nepomniaschy

2004        Category 6: Day of Destruction [Dick Lowry; 2-part tvm] visual cons & 2ud; ph: Neil Roach; 2uc: Charles Konowal

1989        Voodoo Dawn/Strange Turf [feature] ph: James McCalmont

1994        Sea Life [short/b&w/15m] ph: Bill Megalos