First, let us take a moment to mourn the loss of Nicole Kidman's beauty. Remember the days when her hair was red, her lips weren't inflated, and her forehead didn't resemble a windshield? I miss those days.
I was, however, quite taken with the visual beauty of the film. This is especially true ofthe cinematography- the shot compostion and lighting coupled with the outback landscape is really quite striking.
What is even more exciting to me is that these images were captured by a female director of photography: Mandy Walker. Woman DPs seem to be a rarity in Hollywood- one has never been nominated for an Academy Award in Cinematography.
She came into the business of moviemaking in the same way that most people do: working odd jobs on set and consistently pestering her superiors. Her first film as DP was a small Aussie film called "Return Home" in 1990. She worked steadily in the Australian industry throughout the 1990s.
One of her first films that was widely seen on an international level was 2001's "Lantana". Said in a Senses of Cinema interview that this was perhaps her biggest challenge, due to the use of natural light. This led into her first American job, "Shattered Glass". This was the last film she completed before working on "Australia" (which was apparently long in development). She spends time between features working on commercials.
Walker has won awards from the Australian Film Institute and has received Kodak Vision Award. She says that even though she is often a rarity within her department, she wishes that she be hired solely for her skills, and not for gender reasons.
"I had always loved going to the movies; I find it is like entering a dream," she says. I agree, and I wish to see more of her work in the future. I hope she inspires more girls to join the more male-dominated aspects of film.
To top things off, here's the Chanel commercial she shot for Baz Luhrmann, also starring Kidman:
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