Stephanie Dufford

Stephanie Dufford studied illustration at Rhode Island School of Design in 2002 and 2003 before bringing her skills to the study of cinematography at Columbia College Chicago. Her final project at Columbia, a short shot on 35mm film, earned her the ASC's Heritage Award and the ICG's Emerging Cinematographer Award in 2008. Upon graduation, she joined Local 600 as a camera assistant. She had the incredible opportunity to be cinematographer Seamus McGarvey's mentee on various projects he shot in 2010 and 2011. Over the years, Stephanie has stayed busy shooting 13 independent features to date, and several have earned her national recognition. Among them include The Wise Kids, about which Variety said, "Stephanie Dufford's cinematography is symbiotic with the script's intimate, actor-centric nature, while capturing some fine moments of beauty, including the final shot." Both Open Tables and The View From Tall earned her Best Cinematography nominations at the Midwest Film Festival. Her work on Monuments earned another call out by Variety, "And the craft is excellent: Stephanie Dufford's delightful cinematography makes the most of pretty landscapes and silly Tom-and-Jerry slapstick antics alike." Stephanie worked as a camera assistant for 14 years before making the move to camera operator in 2021.