Biography

Jon Fauer, ASC has been shooting film since he was 8 years old. He attended Collegiate School in New York, and graduated with honors in Art and Film from Dartmouth College. His mentors were screenwriter-director Maurice Rapf, director Joseph Losey, cinematographer Andrew Laszlo, ASC and film historian Arthur Mayer. With a grant from PBS, he directed and filmed the one-hour television documentary Losey on Film.

A day after graduation from Dartmouth, he was off producing, directing and shooting his first major film: Wildwater. It was shot on location at the World Kayak Championships in Italy. The film, and the awards it won, led to documentaries around the world: skiing, kayaking, and action- adventure specials for ABC, PBS, American Sportsman, and National Geographic around the world. His work led to membership in The Explorers Club, the International Cinematographers Guild (ICG), the Directors Guild (DGA) and the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC).

He became a camera operator when Andrew Laszlo, ASC asked him if he could ski backwards with a camera. He did -- as second unit camera operator on Top of the Hill, starring Wayne Rogers, Elke Sommer, Sonny Bono and Mel Ferer. However, the film was mainly about bobsledding and love, sure qualifications to work as a camera operator on many features for the next five years. That was followed by work as Director of Photography on features, television films, television series and commercials.

He was 2nd Unit Director of Photography on All the Right Moves and Remo Williams; Director of Photography on the series Tales from the Darkside, the title sequences for Bonfire of the Vanities, and Angie, and Director of Photography on many major campaigns for Coca Cola, Chrysler, Ralph Lauren, Ponds Institute, Johnson & Johnson, Mercedes, and GE.

As a Director-Cameraman on high technology and high fashion commercials, his work won numerous awards, including Best Director and Best Cinematography. Major commercials included campaigns for Neutrogena, Rhinocort, Porcelana, Pontiac, Buick, US Coast Guard, Snickers, Canon Cameras, Sears and Blistex.

Jon Fauer is author of ten best-selling books on cinematography and digital imaging, published by ASC Press, ARRI and Focal Press. Over 110,000 copies of his books have been printed. The books began as a few pages of notes for camera assistants on the cameras Jon owned. The notes quickly grew into textbooks.

He is publisher of Jon Fauer's Film and Digital Times, a bimonthly newsletter on technique and technology in film, digital and video production.

He recently wrapped production of Cinematographer Style, a feature documentary.