Paul Atkins

From Antarctica to the tropical Pacific Paul Atkins ASC has filmed the worlds wildlife and cultures for National Geographic Disney the BBC including such acclaimed series as Planet Earth for IMAX screens and feature films His cinematography and directing have earned numerous awards including Emmys British Academy Awards and a prestigious Telluride Film Festival Tribute Pauls passion for the ocean brought him to Hawaii in 1974 where he pursued a PhD in marine biology at University of Hawaii and began working in the film business as an underwater and wildlife cinematographer With his wife and producing partner Grace Atkins Paul filmed and directed groundbreaking documentaries that challenged our myths and inspired protection of the natural world including the Emmywinning Hawaii Strangers in Paradise Nat GeoBBC Great White Shark BBCNat Geo and Dolphins The Wild Side Nat Geo Paul was director of photography on JeanMichel Cousteaus Voyage to Kure the film that persuaded President George W Bush to declare the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a National Monument in 2006 More recently his work includes Disneynatures Dolphin Reed and Nat Geos Americas National Parks Pauls narrative filmmaking spans numerous commercials television series and feature films and he has worked with some of the worlds most renown directors including Peter Weir on Master and Commander Alejandro Inarritu on The Revenant and Terrence Malick on The Tree of Life and other features On a 40day epic voyage around Cape Horn he filmed for Master and Commander which won the 2004 Academy Award for cinematography for Russell Boyd ASC His 2nd Unit shooting on The Tree of Life contributed to an Oscar nomination for cinematography and Paul has continued to work with Malick on To the Wonder Knight of Cups and as director of photography on his IMAX documentary about the evolution of the universe The Voyage of Time