Paul C. Babin

Born in Washington, D. C. in 1952 to parents Robert and Madelene, Paul moved to California in the late 50s; grew up in Gardena and the San Fernando Valley, and attended Rolling Hills High School in Palos Verdes, graduating in 1970. Photography, painting and sculpture were pursuits from the early teen years and remain so to this day. He attended University at Cal State Long Beach, and the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. While in art school Babin discovered the love of film making.

He returned to Los Angeles, enrolling at the University of Southern California in 1974, earning a Bachelors then a Masters degree in Cinema, 1977, majoring in cinematography and writing. He was an assistant cameraman from '77 to '83 while at the same time shooting documentary and industrial films and videos.

Paul became a member of the International Cinematographer's Guild in 1979 as an assistant cameraman, becoming a full time camera operator in 1984.

Babin worked on small, independent movies and television shows until getting a break on Always (1989), directed by Steven Spielberg. Spielberg, when not getting what he wanted, was famous for abandoning his director's chair, moving the operator aside and operating the camera himself. At the end of the production of "Always" he jotted a note to Babin that included the remark, "thanks for keeping me in my chair".

Four projects The Abyss (1989), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), True Lies (1994), and T2 3-D: Battle Across Time (1996) with James Cameron were illuminations on the grand scale of film making and lessons on the importance of detail and story.

By 1992, having become camera operator to Allen Davaiu, ASC, Babin experienced another career high on the movie Fearless (1993), directed by Peter Weir. Weir's method of summoning the creative potential within a cast and crew was an inspiration, and gave Babin a model of the ideal in collaborative film-making. In the mid-nineties, Babin was the camera operator on two pictures directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola's passion and focus on performance were lasting impressions of Paul's time there.

From 2005 to 2007, Babin was the editor and contributing writer of "Camera Operator" magazine, published by the Society of Camera Operators. It was also during this time that he taught two semesters at the USC School of Cinema.

In 2008, Babin was elected to the National Executive Board of the International Cinematographer's Guild. As digital image capture took hold, Babin began to direct.

Most recently he wrote and directed a 30 minute drama, Two, Four, Six (2009),.

In 2009, Babin documented the death of his friend, Douglas Wright, in the documentary short, "The Place Beneath". Wright was a beloved university professor who was diagnosed with lung cancer within months of losing his health insurance.

In 2011, Babin operated Jayne Mansfield's Car (2012), a picture written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton.