One of the greatest cinematographers in history, Sven Nykvist, has held his own (and his camera) throughout many films (a primary candidate teaming with Ingmar Bergman) over the course of the 20th century.
Biography as reads (from imdb.com):
Sven Nykvist is considered by many in the industry to be the world\'s greatest living cinematographer. During his long career that spans almost half a century, Nyvist has perfected the art of cinematography to its most simple attributes, and has helped give the films he\'s worked on the simplest and most natural look imaginable. Indeed, Mr. Nykvist prides himself on the simplicity and naturalness of his lighting schemes. Nykvist uses light to create mood and, more significantly, to bring out the natural flesh tones in the human face, so that the emotion of the scene can be played out on the face without the light becoming intrusive.
Nykvist entered the Swedish film industry when he was nineteen and worked his way up to becoming a director of photography. He first worked with the legendary Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman on the film "Sawdust and Tinsle" (Nykvist was one of three cinematographers on that film), but his collaboration with Bergman began in earnest with "The Virgin Spring". From that point on, Nykvist replaced the great Gunnar Fischer as Bergman\'s cameraman, as the two men started a collaboration that would last for a quarter of a century. The switch from Fischer to Nyvist created a marked difference in the look of Bergman\'s films. In many respects, it was like the difference between Caravaggio and Rembrandt. Fischer\'s lighting was a study in light and darkness, while Nykvist preferred a more naturalistic, more subtle approach that in many ways relied on the northern light compositions of the many great Scandinavian painters.
Nykvist\'s work with Bergman is one of the most glorious collaborations in movie history. Nykvist created a markedly different look for each installment of Bergman\'s "Faith Trilogy". "Through A Glass Darkly" had an almost suffocating quality to it, and "The Silence" hearkened back to the days of German Expressionism. "Winter Light", the middle part of the trilogy, may very well be the most perfect work in Nykvist\'s repertoire. Having studied the light in a real provincial church carefully, he then recreated the subtle changes in the light as the day goes on on a Stockholm sound stage. Indeed, it\'s hard to believe that the film was shot on a stage and not in a real church in Northern Sweden. For "Persona", Nykvist relied heavily on Sweden\'s famous "Midnight Sun". In "The Passion Of Anna", Nykvist was able to capture the chilly, soggy, and melancholy look of Faro in this, one of Nykvist\'s first color films (Nykvist and Bergman were both very reluctant to film in color). He created a fascinating study of white and red for "Cries & Whispers" for which Nykvist won an Oscar. He won an Oscar again for the last feature-length theatrical film that Bergman made, the sublime "Fanny & Alexander".
During the late seventies, Nykvist began making films elsewhere in Europe and in America, working for directors such as Louis Malle ("Pretty Baby"), Philip Kaufman ("The Unbearable Lightness Of Being"), Bob Fosse ("Star 80"), Nora Ephron ("Sleepless In Seatle"), Woody Allen ("Another Woman", "Crimes & Misdemeanors"), Richard Attenborough ("Chaplin") and fellow Swede Lasse Halstrom ("What\'s Eating Gilbert Grape"). The documentary "Light Keeps Me Company" pays homage to Nykvist, although it does not grant us any real secrets as to his working methods.
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