James L. Neihouse, ASC
cinematographer
James Lawson Neihouse was born in Paris, Arkansas. HIs father, Joe Neihouse, was a construction worker, his mother, Pauline Neihouse, a school teacher. Neihouse graduated from Paris High School in 1973, where he served as the school's yearbook photographer. He attended the University of Central Arkansas during the summer and fall terms of 1973.
In January, 1974 Neihouse moved to Santa Barbara, California to attend the prestigious Brooks Institute of Photography. He double-majored in Industrial-Scientific Photography and Color Technology, with a minor in Undersea Technology. He completed his studies and received a bachelor's degree in 1976 becoming one of the youngest graduates of the school.
Upon graduation from Brooks, Marine Photographic Associates (MPA), a Santa Barbara based production company, immediately hired him. While at MPA he was responsible for many aspects of film and multi-media productions. He wrote and produced a 20 part multi-media training course for one of the company’s largest clients during his first year with MPA. It was this association with MPA that led to his introduction to the IMAX format.
In October of 1976 MPA was hired to shoot the first underwater film in the IMAX format. The film was being directed by one of the founders of IMAX, Graeme Ferguson. Neihouse was tasked with teaching Mr. Ferguson to SCUBA dive so he could see what was being filmed. This association led to more projects in the medium and a life-long friendship with Mr. Ferguson.
Other projects with MPA included an IMAX film for the Smithsonian Institute’s National Air and Space Museum, an IMAX Dome film on the Great Barrier Reef, countless industrial films, and several made for television underwater features.
In May of 1980 he became one of the first to fly into the newly created crater of Mount St. Helens while filming an IMAX documentary on the volcano’s eruption. The film, The Eruption of Mount St. Helens, was later nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Documentary. It was James’ first credit as director of photography. This was the first IMAX film to be nominated for an Oscar.
After leaving MPA in early 1982, Neihouse did several freelance projects with various IMAX producers and began his education in the video world. For one project he helped to test and certify an IMAX camera mount for use on a Learjet 24 which was used to film the Snow Birds Canadian precision flight team, and eventually to film simulated space shuttle approaches.
In late 1983, Neihouse was hired by ABC affiliate KEYT in Santa Barbara, California as a video cameraman. During his 18-month stay he shot and edited more than 1,000 news and feature stories and was promoted to chief cameraman.
In 1985 Neihouse moved from Santa Barbara to Cocoa, Florida and married his wife, Leslie Vock. He continued his IMAX carrier while also working on local productions and shooting as a stringer for the Associated Press. During this time he became active in the Florida Motion Picture and Television Association and eventually served on the board of directors for two years.
In 1988 he started Shot in the Dark Productions, a full service film and video production company specializing in corporate, educational, and industrial productions. Neihouse oversaw the day-to-day operation of the organization while traveling to and from film shoots around the world. In 2003, he closed the doors of the production company in order to spend more time with his family.
In 1988, as NASA was preparing to return to flight after the Challenger accident, Neihouse was hired by IMAX Space Technology Inc. to train shuttle astronauts in the operation of IMAX cameras in space.
Part of his responsibilities as IMAX astronaut training manager was to implement and improve existing training materials for the IMAX 2D camera systems and to create training systems and materials for the IMAX 3D camera systems. For the IMAX 3D space station camera system the wrote and produced a series of training videos which flew on the International Space Station and were used to refresh the crew-members crew-members on the camera operations during extended space flight. Many astronaut crews have singled out IMAX training, under Neihouse’s leadership, as an example of how other payloads should train.
Neihouse was also responsible for overseeing IMAX hardware integration into the NASA Space Shuttle, Russian MIR space station and Soyuz spaceflight systems, as well as the International Space Station. This included testing and flight certification of the IMAX cameras and support hardware, writing cargo system manuals, photo-tv checklists, attending flight certification and review meetings in both the US and Russia.
He received a special commendation for his work on the STS-51 shuttle flight that flew an IMAX camera mounted to a deployable satellite system. This remotely operated camera system captured images of the shuttle orbiter in flight while maneuvering from and returning to the shuttle. This considered by many in the field to be one of the most technically complicated, live action, motion picture sequences ever filmed.
On April 1, 2001 the Expedition 1 crew of the International Space Station presented him with the “Silver Snoopy” award. This award is given to less that one percent of those eligible, and is for outstanding contributions to human spaceflight mission safety and success.
In all he has trained more than 130 astronauts on 20 shuttle flights and 6 space station missions in the operation of the IMAX camera systems. Neihouse has received two NASA Group Achievement Awards and three special commendations for his work on IMAX and IMAX 3D projects.
Neihouse has received two Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography awards from the Giant Screen Cinema Association, one in 2002 for his work as director of photography on Space Station 3D, and a second in 2010 for Hubble 3D. He also received the Kodak Vision Award for Space Station 3D in 2003 from the International Festival de la Geode, in Paris, France.
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In June, 2008, the Brooks Alumni Association named Neihouse as the recipient of their first Distinguished Alumnus Award.
In 2014, Neihouse was invited to become a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, cinematographers branch.
In 2015, he was invited to membership in The American Society of Cinematographers.
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The University of Central Arkansas selected Neihouse as a Distinguished Alumni in April of 2016.
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In January, 2017 James was given the Imaging Alliance's Visionary Photographer Award.
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He has filmed polar bears face-to-face in the Arctic, wild tigers in India, chimpanzees in Africa, The Rolling Stones on tour across Europe, shuttle and rocket launches, the Pope, AIDS orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa, erupting volcanoes, great white sharks, whales, elephant seals, and too many other things to go into, but he always brings excitement, creativity, and a drive to do the best to everything he sets out to do.
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