Born: 28 September 1957, New York City, N.Y., USA.

Education: School of Visual Arts, New York City [SVA] [Film & Still Photography].

Career: Started his career as fashion photographer in Milan, Paris and New York. Became doph on commercials dir by Traktor [for Nike], Alfonso Cuarón [for PBS], Gus Van Sant, Rocky Morton [for Honda], David Kellogg [for Intel], Paul Hunter, David Fincher, a.o. Ph music videos [see below].

Awards: MTV Video Music Award [1993] for 'Rain'; MTV Video Music Award [1994] for 'Everybody Hurts'; MTV Video Music Award [1998] for 'Criminal'; MVPA Award nom [2000] for 'I Try'; Independent Spirit Award nom [2002] & NYFCC Award [2003] for 'Gerry'; Independent Spirit Award nom [2003] & NYFCC Award [2003] for 'Elephant'; MTV Video Music Award nom [2005] for 'Speed of Sound'; Independent Spirit Award nom [2006] for 'Last Days'; BAFTA Film Award nom [2007] for 'American Gangster'; Independent Spirit Award nom [2008] for 'Milk'.

'I light a room and let the people inhabit it, as opposed to lighting the people,' says 'Birth' cinematographer Harris Savides, explaining his philosophy of illumination. 'It's more organic. You want to protect the people you're working with, and there's a constant battle between the best light for their face and the best light for the story. You don't want to get to the point where the audience notices the light.' The New York–based SVA graduate describes his latest partnership, with 'Birth' director Jonathan Glazer, as a product of trust and guesswork. 'It's kind of like the Wong Kar-wai process,' says Savides, who shot Wong's BMW short 'The Follow'. 'Jon's always trying to surprise himself - he told me afterwards that he'd improvised the whole thing. He showed me some films but was careful to say that we were not to take anything specific from it. I remember we watched Robert Bresson's 'Au hasard Balthazar'. Savides says that even though Glazer wanted the movie to be somber, he had trouble articulating the visual style. 'Finally, we saw one location photo - the lobby of the Waldorf-Astoria, dark marble and warm colors. And Jon just said, "That's it."' The otherworldly pall of 'Birth', Savides says, was achieved by lighting from overhead and through muslin, and 'we also had to underexpose the film quite a bit.'

After getting his start in the European fashion world, Savides shot a few visually striking movies and a string of iconic music videos. But he's best-known for his recent Gus Van Sant collaborations: 'Gerry', which pays tribute to the mystical powers of the long take, and 'Elephant', in which the signature shot - a spectral Steadicam glide from behind - deftly conflates an eerie horror movie trope and an empathetic documentary one. Savides also shot Van Sant's just completed Kurt Cobain movie, 'Last Days', and credits the director with inspiring his new 'story-based' approach. 'After working with Gus, I can't go back to just loving the visuals,' he says. 'On one level, I don't want the work to be photographic. But I'd also have trouble doing a comedy, where there's so much that needs to be delivered verbally. It's about having an opportunity to tell the story without words.' [From article by Dennis Lim in 'The Village Voice', 2004.]