Kaminski came to America from his native Poland in the 1980s. His association with Steven Spielberg began after the 1989 airing of "Wildflower," a Lifetime television movie he photographed for Diane Keaton. Spielberg hired him to shoot the television production "Class of '61." Since then he has added to his list of credits the Oscar-winning SCHINDLER'S LIST, THE ADVENTURES OF HUCK FINN, TALL TALE, LITTLE GIANTS, HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT, JERRY MAGUIRE, the Oscar-nominated AMISTAD and JURASSIC PARK: THE LOST WORLD.
Kaminski's collaboration with Spielberg on SAVING PRIVATE RYAN included discovering different visual textures with an imaginative mix of camera films, lab processes and specialized techniques, such as "deconstruction of the slickness that you usually get with modern lenses" - in Spielberg's words. Kaminski achieved that look by stripping the coatings off the lenses. He also flashed the film and used the Technicolor ENR process to alter contrast. Spielberg wanted deeply saturated colors, an idea he attributes to watching 16mm Signal Corps Ekatachrome footage documenting the invasion of France by the Allies. "We wanted to create the illusion that there were several combat cameramen landing with the troops at Normandy," Kaminski said in an American Cinematographer interview. "... We succeeded in emulating the look of that footage for the invasion scenes... with both camera tricks and other technological means." Lenses in 1940 were technically inferior to today's, so Kaminski had a set of older Ultra-speeds stripped of their protective coatings to emulate the look of 50 years ago. Another technique was borrowed from cinematographer Douglas Milsome, BSC, who also used it in an epic war film, Stanley Kubrick's FULL METAL JACKET. The camera's shutter was thrown out of sync to create a streaking effect from the top of the frame to the bottom. It was another way to enhance realism by giving the images the less-than-perfectly controlled look of actual battle footage.
Other notable (non-nominated) credits include ARTIFICIAL INTELLEGENCE: A.I. (2001), MINORITY REPORT and CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (both 2002), THE TERMINAL and JUMBO GIRL (both 2004), WAR OF THE WORLDS and MUNICH (both 2005), MISSION ZERO and LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON / THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY (both 2007), INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL (scheduled for 2008), and LINCOLN and INTERSTELLAR (both announced for 2009).
Kaminski, who made completed his directorial debut for New Line Cinemas -- the supernatural thriller, LOST SOULS (2000) -- said he hopes to now switch between directing and being a director of photography. To that end, he shot and directed HANIA (2007) and directed WHITE ROSE (scheduled for 2008).
He was married to actress Holly Hunter from 1995 to 2001..
Best Achievement in Cinematography 1993: SCHINDLER'S LIST
Nominated for Achievement in Cinematography 1997: AMISTAD
Best Achievement in Cinematography 1998: SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
Nominated for Achievement in Cinematography 2007: LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON (THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY)
4 nominations, 2 Awards