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ACS opens pre-publication book purchase of The Shadowcatchers to industry

Press release from ACS

The Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) is publishing a photographic history of Australian cinematography, THE SHADOWCATCHERS, to be released at the end of March 2012. With Christmas coming up, the ACS recently offered its members the opportunity to reserve a pre-production copy of this beautifully produced coffee table book — along with the option of a gift certificate.

This got such a tremendous response, spreading by word of mouth to both Australian and overseas cinematographers, that now the ACS is extending the offer to the rest of the Australian industry, so that colleagues who may very much want to own a copy of the book don't miss out. The print run is limited.

Sample pages of the book are available for viewing on http://www.shadowcatchers.com.au/.

THE SHADOWCATCHERS is a stylish 288-page book (340 x 245 mm), containing over 380 photographs of working cinematographers taken on film sets from 1901 to the present, along with a ground-breaking historical text, biographies of significant Australian cinematographers, and fascinating personal anecdotes from some of the great characters of our industry. The earliest photograph is of the Salvation Army's Limelight Department cinematographers filming Federation in 1901 and the most recent show Australian cinematographers with some of the sophisticated equipment of 2011.

Selected from private sources and from a range of institutional holdings, the images display the artistry of leading stills photographers, past and present. Contemporay photographers include Robert McFarlane, Mark Rogers, Matt Nettheim, John Platt, Suzy Wood and America's François Duhamel among others. The result is an insiders’ view of what happens behind the camera: the highs and the lows, the changing culture and technology, the dangers, the commitment, the hard yakka, the relationships with directors, cast and crew, the incredible places cinematographers travel to and what it takes to get the shot.

Published by the Australian Cinematographers Society, THE SHADOWCATCHERS was written by film scholar and former cinematographer Martha Ansara, under the guidance of veteran members of the ACS. The book is produced to the highest possible standards and printed through Sydney’s specialist art book printer, Ligare, on 150gsm art paper with a sewn binding.

The book is available in two formats:
– Soft-cover standard edition retailing for $66 (GST inclusive)
– Hardbound limited edition for collectors $250 (GST inclusive). This never-to-be-repeated collectors’ release consists of 250 numbered copies, signed by the Society’s five Academy Award winning cinematographers.

As there will be only 2,000 copies of the standard edition and 250 copies of the Collector's Limited Edition, members of the film industry are being notified early so that they can have a chance to secure copies before sales are opened up to the wider public.