Steven Poster


Steven Barry Poster ASC, CSC is an American cinematographer.
He served as President of the International Cinematographers Guild from 2006 to 2019.

Early life and education

Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Poster studied at Southern Illinois University, the ArtCenter College of Design, and the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Career

He began his filmmaking career as a creative assistant at 'The Film Group,' a Chicago-based commercial film production company.
After being promoted to director of photography for his skill at lighting, he met Herschell Gordon Lewis and worked with him in various crew positions on a total of three films.
He founded a production company with director Michael Mann, and served as the cinematographer on numerous industrial and education films. His 1973 short film Another Saturday Night, which he co-directed with Mik Derks, was nominated for the Short Film Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival 2024.
In 1977, he was the second unit cinematographer for Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
In 1980, he relocated to Hollywood and shot his first feature film as cinematographer, Blood Beach.
Poster joined the American Society of Cinematographers in 1987. The same year, he shot Someone to Watch Over Me for director Ridley Scott, which earned him an ASC Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases
He shot the iconic music video to Madonna's "Like a Prayer", as well as commercials directed by Ridley Scott and Kinka Usher.
In 2006, he was elected as the National President of the International Cinematographers Guild, a position he held until 2019. He is also a former executive board member of the International Documentary Association, and currently sits on the Nicholl Fellowship committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
He is a adjunct professor at the ArtCenter College of Design.

Filmography

Television

TV movies
YearTitleDirector
1978The Grass Is Always Greener Over the Septic TankRobert Day
1979The Night RiderHy Averback
1979Beggarman, ThiefLawrence Doheny
1981Coward of the CountyDick Lowry
1982Mysterious TwoGary Sherman
1983The Cradle Will FallJohn Llewellyn Moxey
1986CourageJeremy Kagan
1992The Bat, the Cat and the PenguinMichael Meadows
John Pattyson
1994RoswellJeremy Kagan
1995Present Tense, Past PerfectRichard Dreyfuss
1996Once You Meet a StrangerTommy Lee Wallace
1997Color of JusticeJeremy Kagan
2005Mrs. HarrisPhyllis Nagy
2006The Danny Comden ProjectRobert Duncan McNeill
2013Gutsy FrogMark A.Z. Dippé