Born: ?, Brooklyn, New York, USA.

Education: Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. [English literature]; Tisch School of the Arts of NYU.

Career: 'The summer before I got into film school, I got a break on a little horror movie. I heard there was an opening in the electric crew, and I talked my way on to the electric crew. […] I gravitated towards the camera and became a camera assistant. I worked on a film by Otto Preminger's nephew, and I worked on Ang Lee's thesis film, which was called 'Fine Line'. That was a fantastic experience. After about four films, I decided that I loved it and was going to apply to NYU Film School. I presented some short stories and my photography show from college, and got in. […] Whenever there was a break or during the summers, I would go off and work on commercials. By my third year, I entered the union, which was then Local 15, as an electrician. […] I wrote and directed a lot of films. At NYU, everyone is given an opportunity to direct, unlike some of the other schools, where it's broken down into positions. […] When I crewed on other movies, I would shoot them. I became what was called a 'camera jock'. There were three or four of us in my class. We ended up shooting all the films, so I got a tremendous amount out of my three years at NYU. I was either writing or directing, or I was shooting, on a variety of films. […] When I got out of film school, I lived a dual life. I was a union electrician on commercials, TV shows, and movies, including experience with my mentor Fred Murphy, a very fine cinematographer. I also worked on Frank Prinzi's crews for many films. I learned a tremendous amount from those guys. I would live that life, and then sneak off and shoot student films and other things for free, never mentioning to anyone around the set that I was shooting on the side. […] Over the course of five or six years, I started shooting more and more. First it was 25 percent shooting, 75 percent electrician, and then it was 50/50. At a certain point, I hung up my gloves and said 'I'm a DP now'.'

Worked for Nickelodeon shooting promos. Ph 100+ commercials [dir by Eric Marciano, a.o. and for BMW, Nokia, Calvin Klein, Citibank, a.o.], industrial films and music videos [a: R.E.M., The Indigo Girls, The Fleshtones, Aimee Mann, a.o.].

Awards: 'Emmy' Award nom [2008] for 'Scrubs' [ep #150 'My Princess' dir by Zach Braff]

'Scrubs' is one of a handful of series shot on Super 16mm today. "It's a great medium for the show because we move very fast, have small sets and a very fluid camera style," says John Inwood who has been 'Scrubs' director of photography for all but its pilot. "There are a lot of walks-and-talks through hallways, in and out of rooms and elevators."

Steadicam and A Camera Operator Rich Davis uses Inwood's own Aaton XTR to shoot the fast-paced series, now in its third season. A longtime Aaton user, Inwood likes the camera's superior registration, good balance for extensive Steadicam work and ergonomic design for occasional handheld shots. His camera has been modified with an adjustable shutter so it can produce the clipped, staccato look of 'CSI: Miami' or 'Cold Case' if desired. It can also accommodate the Preston shutter-speed control device for adjusting frame rates during the course of a shot.

Since its debut, 'Scrubs' has "matured on many levels," Inwood says. "We've gotten better at shooting it, better at lighting it. We've done all we possibly can to challenge ourselves in various ways, so we're ready for anything the directors throw at us."

While 'Scrubs' remains fast paced, another sign of its maturity is less frantic and frenetic scripts. "In the first season the snappy, fast-moving style almost got ahead of itself," Inwood notes. "The scripts were so chockfull of great scenes there was almost too much material for the amount of air time." Each episode now averages some 30 scenes, down from an average 40-plus in previous seasons and a record 60-plus for certain episodes.

The camera team shoots an average of 10 scenes or six-and-a-half pages a day which is still quite a fast rate of shooting. "Scenes may be less than a page long, with as many as five or six characters, requiring a lot of intricate blocking and camera movement," Inwood says. "The camera is constantly adjusting and moving. A given shot may begin with a transition, become an establishing shot, develop into a Steadicam walk-and-talk and end as an over-the-shoulder coverage shot, all done rapidly and fluidly."

Inwood has chosen to shoot Super 16mm with medium ASA stocks. He opts for Kodak 7246 250 ASA and 7274 200 ASA because he wants as fine grain as possible to handle all the tonal ranges that need to be photographed. "We approach the look of 35mm with all the benefits of Super 16: a smaller camera moving fast through small spaces," he notes. He also uses reversal film stocks for flashback sequences. [From article on the AbelCineTech website (2004)]

1988        Swingin' in the Painter's Room [Greg Mottola] b&w; short/11m

1988        Voices from the Attic [Debbie Goodstein] 16mm/c; doc/60m; addph; ph: Oren Rudavsky

199?        Fambro [Creed Taylor] ?; mus doc/?m

1991        Larry Coryell - Live from Bahia [prod by Creed Taylor] 16mm/c; jazz perf/58m

1991        The Devil's Toothpick [Gary Scharfin] ?; mus doc/?m

1992        Bottom Land/Bottomland [Edward A. Radtke] c

1992        Guerillas in Our Midst/Guerilla Art [Amy Harrison] 16mm/c; doc/35m; co-addph; ph: Ellen Kuras

1993        My Daughter's Son [Andrew Lund] 16mm/c; short/17m; prod Columbia University School of the Arts

1995        The Daytrippers [Greg Mottola] s16/c; + 2uc

1997        Six Ways to Sunday [Adam Bernstein] c

1998        Going Nomad [Art Jones] c

1999        A Whole New Day [William Garcia] c; short/18m

2001        Face [Bertha Bay-Sa Pan] c; adapted from short film (1997; ph: Michael Barrett)

2001        In America/East of Harlem [Jim Sheridan] c; ph snow unit New York (s16); ph: Declan Quinn

2007        Wainy Days [ep #16 (4m50s) 'The Pickup' dir by Adam Bernstein & #18 (4m33s) 'The Sublet' dir by Jonathan Kesselman]

                    26-part internet (My Damn Channel) series; 2nd season, 2007-08; cph (#18): Phillip Martinez

Was 2uc on the series 'Oz', 'Seinfeld', 'Mad About You' and 'Largo Winch'.

1994        The Adventures of Pete & Pete [various] 33-part series, 1993-96/s16; 2nd season, 1994-95; other ph: Michael Spiller

                    & John Hazard

1995        The Adventures of Pete & Pete [13 ep dir by various] 3rd season, 1995-96; see 1994

1995        Intimate Portrait: Carly Simon [Kathleen Dougherty] doc/?m; cph: Ernie Fritz, Bob Blauvelt, a.o.

199?        The Detective [Adam Bernstein] pilot

199?        The Difference [Bob Mittenthal] pilot for Nickelodeon

1997        [The] Speed of Life [Peter Lauer] pilot for ABC-tv/Disney

1998        Bus No. 9 [Mark Teideman] pilot

1999        Strangers With Candy [pilot 'Retardation, a Celebration/The Trip Back' dir by Adam Bernstein] followed by 30-part

                    series, 1999-2000

1999        Pulp Comics: Caroline Rhea [Barbara Kanowitz] special for Comedy Central; ph film seq

1999        Cry Baby Lane [Peter Lauer] tvm

2001        Scrubs [23 ep dir by various] series, 2001-present/s16; 1st season, 2001-02; other ph: Richard Quinlan (pilot dir by Adam

                    Bernstein)

2002        Scrubs [22 ep dir by various] 2nd season, 2002-03; other ph: Billy Dickson; see 2001

2002        The Johnny Chronicles [Adam Bernstein] pilot/30m

2003        Scrubs [21 ep dir by various] 3rd season, 2003-04; other ph: Richard W. Davis & Andrew Rawson; see 2001

2005        Scrubs [ep #100 'My Way Home' dir by Zach Braff & #106 'My Five Stages' dir by Jay Alaimo] 5th season, 2006; see 2001

2006        Scrubs [20 ep dir by various] 6th season, 2006-07; see 2001

2007        Scrubs [various] 7th season, 2007-08; see 2001

1984        Fine Line [Ang Lee; short/43m] c.asst; ph: ?; prod NYU

1986        In Transit [Cédric Klapisch; short] co-gaffer; ph: Kevin Morrisey

1989        Enemies, A Love Story [Paul Mazursky] electrician; ph: Fred Murphy

1990        Once Around [Lasse Hallström] co-electrician (Boston); ph: Theo van de Sande

1990        Class of Nuke 'Em High Part 2: Subhumanoid Meltdown [Eric Louzil] unit cam (New York); ph: Ron Chapman

1988        What Then? [short/?m] ph: ?

2003        Scrubs [ep #50 'My Lucky Night'] 3rd season, 2003-04; ph: Andrew Rawson; see Television

2004        Scrubs [ep #73 'Her Story' & #88 'My Boss' Free Haircut'] 4th season, 2004-05; ph: Andrew Rawson; see Television

2005        Scrubs [ep #105 'My Cabbage' & #112 'His Story III'] 5th season, 2006; ph: Andrew Rawson; see Television

2006        Scrubs [ep #118 'My Mirror Image' & #136 'My Cold Shower'] 6th season, 2006-07; ph: Richard W. Davis; see Television

2007        Wainy Days [ep #17 'Jonah and the Manilow'] 2nd season, 2007-08; ph: Ben Wolf; see Films

2008        Ex-Terminators [feature] ph: Robert Baumgartner