“Every click of the shutter is a totality of the music I’ve heard, the love and pain I’ve seen and lived, and has shaped the way I see.”

— John Simmons, ASC

On part two of our series of interviews at the American Society of Cinematographers Clubhouse in Hollywood, we speak with John Simmons, ASC, an award-winning cinematographer for film and television who is also a still photographer, painter and multimedia artist.

He grew up in Chicago and like many directors of photography, he began his career taking photo. He speaks passionately about his enduring love of still photography, on being a champion for diversity in the ASC and how early influences encouraged him -not only to pursue a career in cinema from photography- but how they still guide his ongoing drive mentor up and coming visual storytellers.

In our interview, John speaks poignantly about the power of the image:

“The eternal effect of the image - the effect of an image changes someone - that new person influences the next person and that next person is influenced by the values established by the first person - and there all a result of experiencing an image - just like movies and music become the images and soundtracks of our lives.”

— John Simmons, ASC