Cinematographer had ‘incredible eye’

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This article was published 12/06/2012 (5235 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG cinematographer Ian Elkin succumbed to esophageal cancer last Friday at the age of 65, leaving behind a body of work that includes prestigious locally-shot films such as For the Moment, Lost in the Barrens and The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick.

Elkin was one of the founders of the Winnipeg Film Group in 1974 and photographed dozens of documentaries, television episodes and feature films. Director Norma Bailey collaborated with Elkin on two fronts. He shot her documentary Nose and Tina and her debut feature Bordertown Cafe and they formed a production company, Flat City Films. The two also had two sons together, Ben and Will, to whom Bailey says he was devoted.

“It was all about his children, they were his life,” she said. “They meant everything to him.”

As a cinematographer, Bailey says she didn’t realize how good he was until she started working with other cinematographers.

“I kind of got spoiled by his incredible eye and ability with the camera,” she says. “He set a high standard for all of us.”

Elkin’s body of work includes movies for writer-director Aaron Kim Johnston such as The Last Winter and For the Moment, Russell Crowe’s first North American film.

“It’s a real loss on a personal and professional level,” Johnston said. “The majority of the films I’ve done, I did with Ian. He was a part of me.”

Sound mixer Leon Johnson said he and Elkin travelled all over the world — Africa, Europe and the Arctic — shooting documentaries. He recalls Elkin being fearless.

“He had a knack for just grabbing a hand-held camera and capturing a moment,” Johnson said.

Aaron Kim Johnston said Elkin’s gift was capturing the essence of whatever the piece was, whether it was documentary or dramatic.

“He was a master of using light to conjure the emotions and sensibilities of a moment,” Johnston says. “He was dedicated to his work and I think exceedingly respectful of the medium.”

“Playing it safe is no fun for me at all,” Elkin said in an 1993 article in the CSC News, which was published by the Canadian Society of Cinematographers. “I think if I ever got down to that, then I just wouldn’t shoot film.”

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca