Meet Nolan Englund | Cinematographer

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

Hi Nolan, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Being an artist and having a career is inherently risky. You and your art are a commodity, (unfortunately), and its never guaranteed that it will sell. You have to constantly make risk/reward assessments to progress your career. The risk, mostly comes down to money. What else is new?

The first financial risk in my career was going to film school. (I am tremendously lucky that my family were the ones risking the money). Film school is famously only worth what you put into it, and through hard work I got a lot out of it. Namely my main network of collaborators. The reward outweighed the risk!

Now as a freelance cinematographer, there is so much risk inherently involved in the job. Mainly the uncertainty of how much work I will have each month. To combat this, I’ve had to learn how to effectively market myself and my abilities through social media. But there are little micro risks involved in that process too. For instance, each job you take is developing your network facing identity. By taking a job that doesn’t creatively align with you, or doesn’t fit your brand, to be able to pay rent, risks diluting your portfolio. My portfolio is all over the place, creatively speaking, but I can pay rent! So you be the judge whether those risks paid off.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My mindset as a cinematographer is an interesting mix of creativity and technicality. My brain is split between the imagination of a beautiful shot, and all of the nerdy technical steps it will take to achieve it. I love both aspects.

Learning both the creative and the technical sides of cinematography was a challenge and a catch-22. My imagination was somewhat limited by not knowing what was out there in terms of technique and equipment While at the same time, I didn’t know what kind of techniques existed because my mind’s eye was still developing. For instance, as I learned what lights are best for each situation, I could imagine shots much more clearly. And as I researched how to get the new shots in my head, I was lead to learning about new specialty equipment. Through this back and forth, I became a much more savvy shooter. And the best part is I’m always learning and improving.

When I’m working on set, I enter frame of mind that I can only access when I have a camera in my hand. It is immensely satisfying to watch a plan come together and create a beautiful shot. I live for that moment. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter to me what type of project I’m working on. Be it a music video or a dog food commercial, the satisfaction I get from the process means way more to me than the type of content it may be.

That being said, if given the option, I will shoot at night. Without the pesky sun, I feel way more free to explore chiaroscuro and neon. Which I enjoy the most, visually. The city lights and industry are such evocative backdrops and photograph especially well. I’m particularly inspired by refineries at night, with the twisting pipes and countless lights. I like the intensity of it. I’m a pretty mellow person but with a very intense tastes in art. I love extreme metal, and heady sci-fi. Nerd!

If I had to condense my trip into a blurb: I fought to be a filmmaker, and won. I feel lucky to be surrounded by immensely talented people. And with those people at my side, I live to make cool videos for people to watch on their phones!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love Highland Park. Fig and York street have amazing bars and restaurants. Highland Park Bowl and Goldline are the coolest spots in town, as far as I’m concerned. Maybe catch a show at the Lodge Room.

I’ve recently been obsessed with Prince Street Pizza. Not an LA thing, but still…

I also really like driving in the canyons, especially Topanga.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’ve been lucky to have a lot of people supporting me throughout my life that I owe my successes to.

My family has supported me from the very beginning. Emotionally, financially, creatively. You name it. They inspire all that I do.

My high school mentor, Justin Seligman, and his video production program awakened and supported my aspirations to become a filmmaker.

All of my friends and collaborators. You know who you are!

Website: https://www.nolanenglund.com

Instagram: @nolanenglund

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-englund-565280168

Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4044257/?ref_=fn_all_nme_1