Andrew H Rawson
Director of Photography
Andrew got into the movie business in his early 20’s after a short stint at the North Carolina School of the Arts. NCSA at that time was a performing arts school and while he quickly decided that theater was not for him, Andrew’s world was changed by the incredible teaching staff there who opened his eyes to design and color which he applied to his love of photography. Andrew interned for a local film maker for several years where in return for his hard work he had carte blanche access to cameras, sound and editing and was able to shoot many of his own projects. Andrew shot PSA’s on 16mm film because at that time he could get MTV to air his work. He was 20 years old.
Features are what Andrew wanted to do however and North Carolina was a hot bed for film making at that time. He began working on movies as a lighting technician and from there made lifelong friends with crews from New York and Los Angeles who started taking him with them on movies shot all over the United States. Andrew started finding himself in Los Angeles between projects a lot and in 1992 Andrew and his wife made it their home. Things moved fast once moving to LA and within a year Andrew was working as a gaffer. Being a gaffer gave him the opportunity to work with many wonderful cinematographers over the years and to learn what lighting techniques he liked and what he didn’t and to work quickly and efficiently.
In 2002 Andrew was given the opportunity to shoot his first feature film in Romania, a small action movie called Windfall. Upon returning to the States another cinematographer and close friend John Inwood asked Andrew to work as his gaffer on a new television show called Scrubs. He spent the next 8 years there working with Inwood and the wonderfully brilliant creator of the show Bill Lawrence.
When Inwood started directing episodes of Scrubs Andrew was once again given the opportunity to step up to the role of cinematographer and ended up shooting 16 episodes.
He has since shot a season of Telenovela starring Eva Longoria, 4 seasons of Lawrence’s Cougar Town, Surviving Jack, 4 seasons of American Housewife and recently the Hallmark movie Biltmore Christmas.
“ I think one of the most important things to always remember, especially working in television with different directors every week, is to leave your ego at home and really embrace that film making is a collaborative effort. I naturally gravitate towards the choices that will make a scene more visually interesting, but am always aware that the bottom line is about telling the story with pictures”