Meet Tom Festo | Cinematographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tom Festo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tom, let’s start by talking about what inspires you?
I draw constant inspiration from my fellow creatives and technicians that I work with. Filmmaking is an inherently collaborative medium, where every project is the sum of the efforts of all of the people that helped to create it. Some of the most valuable assets a person can bring to set are their ideas and perspective. Everyone is going to have their own opinion of what looks best or how to solve a problem, and taking those different points of view and channeling them in a way that benefits the project while keeping it in line with the Director’s vision is a large part of my job as a Cinematographer.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I love filmmaking because it’s always different. Each day you’re stepping into a new place with new people to try and create new work. So I guess I’d say I pride myself on my versatility, my ability to go into each project with a fresh mind, bringing with me all of my past experience and applying it to the task at hand.

It takes a long time to develop an eye, the ability to look at an image and determine how exactly to improve it. Every shot in a movie is the sum of so many small decisions and micro-adjustments, each of them on their own imperceptible to the audience. But when you add them up they amount to a multi-layered form of storytelling. So much of what we do in film is real-time problem solving. Often we are looking at the frame and asking ourselves what we *don’t* like about it, then reverse engineering the best way to change it. Obviously knowledge of the tools and techniques used in making those adjustments is important, but equally important is the ability to first identify what it is you want to change.

This approach of “refining the things you don’t like as a way of creating something you do like” is especially relevant in the world of independent film, where you are working with more finite resources. I recently shot a feature film titled “Window Shopping,” the second picture by Atlanta director Gavin Fields, and this was my playbook for the whole show. We shot entirely on-location and relied heavily on available light. We had to get very creative with our lighting and angles to hide things we couldn’t remove, fake rooms for other rooms, fake time of day, etc. In one instance we had a scene that took place outside and the available light from the sky was quite flat. On a production with more resources, we would be able to introduce a large light that competes with the daylight in order to add more level to one side of our actor’s face, but in our case, all we could do instead was bring in a large black cloth to reduce the light on the other side of his face. The effect was the same (it created contrast and shape on the actor) but it was more realistic for our crew and equipment package.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We actually got to put this question to the test very recently when my brother and his girlfriend visited us from Brooklyn. The number one thing we always try to do with anyone visiting Atlanta is take a long walk on the Beltline – you always see something interesting! Along the way we grabbed a cortado at Harbor Coffee, popped into the Atlanta Worldwide Gallery to check out all their cool vintage cameras and memorabilia, then headed to Burle’s for a cocktail. The Beltline is such a special trademark of Atlanta, we try to take advantage of it whenever we can.

Next time, we’re excited to take them to do some of our other favorite things like racking up plates at Kuro Revolving Sushi Bar off Buford Highway, eating some buffalo wings at The Local for some buffalo wings, and getting some top notch brisket and pulled pork at Heirloom BBQ. And hopefully next time they’re in town on a Wednesday so we can bring them to the Red Light Cafe Jazz Jam!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I am extremely fortunate in that I have so many loving, supportive friends and family, and it would require several volumes to acknowledge each one who has had an impact on my life and career.

I’d be remiss to not give special recognition to my wife, Peyton, who in my ten years of knowing her has never faltered in believing in me, even in times when I didn’t believe in myself.

I must also give a shoutout to Tom Chaves and Steven Carmona, two New York Cinematographers who have both been great collaborators and friends to me on and off the clock.

Website: https://www.tomfesto.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/framesbytom

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomfesto