Andrzej Bartkowiak

Born: 1950
Where: Lodz, Poland

Bartkowiak carved a name for himself as Sidney Lumet's cinematographer of choice, working on ten of the director's eleven films over 12 years.

However, when he moved into the director's chair he didn't bring Lumet's subtlety with him and has been behind the lens for flashly yet artless actions such as Exit Wounds and Cradle 2 The Grave.

Trained at the Polish Film School in Lodz, director of photography Bartkowiak emigrated to the USA in 1972 and shortly after began working in adverts.

He made his feature debut as cinematographer on Deadly Hero, but was not recognised until his gritty lensing of more than 100 Manhattan locations for Prince of the City, his first collaboration with Lumet.

He solved the riddle of what the director wanted for The Verdict, drawing inspiration from a book of Carravaggio's paintings to create a chiaroscuro effect to the scrren.

He did this by providing strong light source, almost always from the side, countered on the opposite side by shadows.

Andrzej also provided the natural look of James L Brooks' Oscar-winning picture Terms of Endearment, and his taut camerawork added to the suspense of Speed.

Much of his late 90s work involved providing striking visuals for films ranging from the special effects-driven Species, Dante's Peak and The Devil's Advocate to the hand-held look of Joel Schumacher's Falling Down.

In 2000, he decided like many others in his profession, to move to the director's chair with Romeo Must Die, a retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet starring Jet Li and Aaliyah.

His second directorial effort saw him team with Steven Segal and rapper DMX in Exit Wounds and the formulaic kung-fu, gangsta actioner Cradle 2 The Grave with DMX again and Jet Li.