The 34th American Society of Cinematographers Awards will be handed Saturday, January 25th, 2020.

As I have been doing for a few years, as we get into the awards season, I’ll post the fictional ballots for some of the guild awards, showing what my vote would be if I had one. I will, as a rule, abstain from my fictional vote if I haven’t seen at least half of the nominees. And to be perfectly clear, I’m not a member of any of these guilds and organizations.

The list of nominees can be seen here.

Here it goes:

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography – Documentary: abstain (Not seen: Honeyland, Obscuro Barroco, Anthropocene: The Human Epoch.)

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Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography – Spotlight Award: abstain (Not seen: Honey Boy, Monos.)

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Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography – Theatrical Release: Roger Deakins, for 1917
There were many greatly shot movies in 2019, both those graced with nominations from ASC and not, but the work of Roger Deakins in 1917 is phenomenal, standing tall over them. The camera elegantly moves around in ways and through spaces that seem unlikely, always landing in fine frames. In addition, some of the sequences are incredibly lit. This is magical work.