Ellen Kuras is a cinematographer and a part-time photographer. She was born in Cedar Grove, New Jersey on July 10th, 1959. She was the third child of Hank and Irene Kuras. Like her parents, she has 100% Polish heritage. She went to Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design. She currently lives in New York, and briefly, Italy where she directed two episodes of the six-episode series “Catch 22.” She is also my aunt.
Ellen first worked as a cinematographer in 1987, when she filmed “Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia,” which was the first U.S. movie filmed in Cambodia after the Vietnam War. She is still active today, most recently shooting “Catch 22.” For many years she was a documentary filmmaker, and her film “The Betrayal” was nominated for an Oscar in 2010. Some of her more well-known films include “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004), “Jane” (2018), and “A Little Chaos” (2014). She has also filmed commercials, music videos, and other documentary films. She has eight nominations for various awards for her films and has won three Sundance Film Festival awards along with an Emmy that she won last year for “Jane.” She has worked with several famous actors such as Spike Lee, George Clooney, and Kate Winslet. She is one of very few female cinematographers in the world today.
As a documentary filmmaker, she cares a lot about the past and helping people understand their heritage. Her degree at Brown was in anthropology, and she is incredibly curious about other cultures, which shows in her work.
She first became interested in photography by looking at the reflection of empty glasses and jars on a window sill. She took her first photography class at the Rhode Island School of Design because she couldn’t get into a sculpture class, but quickly discovered how much she loved it. She switched into cinematography because she enjoyed watching films.
Ellen still does a lot of photography, but more as a hobby. She primarily shoots landscape pictures at her country house in Hudson Valley, New York. She also does a mix of portraits, lifestyle images, and pictures of her family and extremely attractive nephew. Most people consider her a pioneer in cinematography for her work with “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” featuring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, and she was recognized with the Eastman Kodak Best Cinematography Focus Award.
Ellen Kuras has influenced me in my work by always making me think about framing and why I position my images in the way they are. She has also taught me personally a little about how camera lenses affect blurriness and clearness of a photo. She has also inspired me to take pictures of my cat. She has two cats: an orange tabby named Puca, and a Siamese cat named Jade.
Ellen first worked as a cinematographer in 1987, when she filmed “Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia,” which was the first U.S. movie filmed in Cambodia after the Vietnam War. She is still active today, most recently shooting “Catch 22.” For many years she was a documentary filmmaker, and her film “The Betrayal” was nominated for an Oscar in 2010. Some of her more well-known films include “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004), “Jane” (2018), and “A Little Chaos” (2014). She has also filmed commercials, music videos, and other documentary films. She has eight nominations for various awards for her films and has won three Sundance Film Festival awards along with an Emmy that she won last year for “Jane.” She has worked with several famous actors such as Spike Lee, George Clooney, and Kate Winslet. She is one of very few female cinematographers in the world today.
As a documentary filmmaker, she cares a lot about the past and helping people understand their heritage. Her degree at Brown was in anthropology, and she is incredibly curious about other cultures, which shows in her work.
She first became interested in photography by looking at the reflection of empty glasses and jars on a window sill. She took her first photography class at the Rhode Island School of Design because she couldn’t get into a sculpture class, but quickly discovered how much she loved it. She switched into cinematography because she enjoyed watching films.
Ellen still does a lot of photography, but more as a hobby. She primarily shoots landscape pictures at her country house in Hudson Valley, New York. She also does a mix of portraits, lifestyle images, and pictures of her family and extremely attractive nephew. Most people consider her a pioneer in cinematography for her work with “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” featuring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, and she was recognized with the Eastman Kodak Best Cinematography Focus Award.
Ellen Kuras has influenced me in my work by always making me think about framing and why I position my images in the way they are. She has also taught me personally a little about how camera lenses affect blurriness and clearness of a photo. She has also inspired me to take pictures of my cat. She has two cats: an orange tabby named Puca, and a Siamese cat named Jade.
For the bonsai tree picture, I went to the Botanical Gardens on the University of Michigan’s north campus with Ellen, and we both snapped a shot of their bonsai exhibit. Ellen chose to shoot a bonsai tree with more whites in it, while I on the other hand chose to shoot one with more vibrant colors such as pink for my recreation. I also wanted the colors in mine to pop, so I shot mine in the sun to capture the brighter colors, while Ellen chose to have shade on her tree to give the flowers more contrast. While we both shot the tree on an angle, I chose to capture more of the structure behind the bonsai because I thought the texture of the wood added more interest to the photo.
name: Pink pop |
For the Italian wedding picture, I used members of my family to act as the people getting married, and the family over watching that joyous celebration. I used my sister and cousins as the people getting married and the close family beside them. In Ellen’s picture, the wedding is being witnessed by family members of different generations. In my picture, I also tried to use different generations by having my sister, my mom, and my grandpa to give the picture life and diversity. Obviously I can’t go to Italy to recreate this picture but I tried to position my family so that they would align with Ellen’s picture.
name: generations |
For my fur blanket picture, I recreated it by putting myself in between two fur blankets and trying to model what little me looked like. Some comparisons between both the pictures are mine has a brown fur blanket and so does Ellen’s picture, also I am in both of our pictures. Some contrasts are for my recreation picture, I had to use a light gray blanket as the background instead of a brown blanket in my background. I had to change the pose so that I could take the picture. I’m actually holding my arms up so I can take a selfie without my arms being in the picture.
name: grown up |