Digital Video - February 2008 - (Page 28) CLOSE-UPS DV UPDATE RISKY BUSINESS CAMERAMAN KEVIN WARD WILLINGLY ENTERS HARM’S WAY SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO. INTERVIEW BY DOUGLAS BANKSTON K evin Ward has raced in the legendary SCORE Baja 1000, a grueling 1,000-mile off-road dash through the tortuous desert terrain of Mexico. He even won his class. On a motorcycle. And like the Baja 1000, his route to becoming a director of photography has been a circuitous journey. With such hobbies as racing motorcycles and cars, Ward began his career as a stunt driver. Cameras didn’t catch his eye until he was in Utah on the production of a TV movie. Ward, also an avid rock and ice climber, was the stunt rigger. After the camera platforms and safety systems were set on a rock face, the camera operators were hit with sudden cowardice. In repels Ward, and, with some guidance by radio, he got the shot. In 1991, while working his way up the camera department ranks, Ward caught a break while doubling for NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace in a Winston Cup car. Dana Christiaansen was shooting, and after some lunchtime schmoozing by Ward, the DP took him on as a dv february 2008 1st AC. Ward then climbed the ladder much faster, notching his first feature credit as a director of photography in 1995 with the straight-to-video title Taken Alive. To date, he is proudest of Dust to Glory (2005), a documentary directed by Dana Brown that chronicles the Baja 1000 and its mythos. Ward may very well have a premix of gasoline and adrenaline coursing through his veins. Just look at the subjects he’s shot since Dust to Glory (viewable at www.banditobrothers.com): BF Goodrich and Mitsubishi off-road racing, race car drifting, ATVs, motorcycles, Navy insertion boats with .50-caliber machine guns blazing and Air Force Predator drones. Before heading to the Florida Keys to shoot some personal watercraft spots for Honda, Ward sat down with DV to discuss his action-oriented shooting style. DV: How would you describe your projects? KEVIN WARD: Action-documentary. It’s unique what they are doing with that footage and interesting in that www.dv.com 28 http://www.banditobrothers.com http://www.dv.com
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