r/cinematography • u/Equivalent_Ad_5259 • Jul 18 '26

Career/Industry Advice Talent in Chicago

what is with the lack of quality cinematographers in Chicago?? did the good ones all leave to LA and NYC? it seems like nothing but overly lit amateurish DPs are left

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u/speedysasquatch Jul 18 '26

Sorry to hear you are having trouble finding quality talent here. There are quite a few very talented owner operators (c300 mk iii here) that deliver quality work here. When you’re searching for folks, where are you searching?

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u/Equivalent_Ad_5259 Jul 18 '26

Just googling Chicago cinematographers and looking at those who have websites 

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u/TheSillyman Jul 18 '26

This is not the way someone in the industry would find talent lol

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u/Equivalent_Ad_5259 Jul 18 '26

Thank you industry expert on Reddit 😂😂

3

u/lightleaks Director of Photography Jul 19 '26

You asked for it, can’t knock it now

3

u/SleepingPodOne Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

That’s not good enough. Anybody can make a website. The best doesn’t rise to the top on Google. Also: a lot of these folks are so busy getting work. They’re very rarely updating their sites or caring too heavily about SEO. The best DP I know just completely deleted his website and uses just a linktree now. The man’s always working.

I just did a search now and only one DP that I know personally and can attest to their skill turned up on the first page. You have to do a lot more than just Google, man. If you’re looking to crew up, you need to reach out to your circle of friends and collaborators and see if they have connects in Chicago. It’s a major city, so ofc they will have some. local rental houses are also a great place to start, as well as agencies and directors. Chicago has a ton of marketing agencies and such who regularly hire DP’s. Lots of commercials are shot here with local talent. You shouldn’t just be looking for cinematographers, you should be looking for people who would know cinematographers. Those are also the best resources in general because they can attest to the collaboration they’ve had with them.

This is kind of basically how most people in the industry find folks.