Argentinian-born cinematographer Natasha Braier is turning hard-earned career experience into a community built for early-stage filmmakers. Through Deep Light—born during COVID lockdowns—she’s organized workshops, mentorship, crew recommendations, and even a D
When you’re trying to break into cinematography, it’s easy to feel like you’re looking at a closed door. Natasha Braier remembers what that was like as a student: she knew three cinematographer names from credits, but she didn’t even know how they looked.
Now, she’s building a place where people can see themselves in the work—and keep going. Braier. an Argentinian-born director of photography known for projects including “I Love Boosters. ” “The Neon Demon. ” “Honey Boy. ” and a brace of Ed Sheeran music videos. says joining the American Society of Cinematographers finally made her feel like she’d found a peer community. But it didn’t always show up when she needed it.
“It’s important to reassure people and give them a mirror where they can see themselves in this career and keep going,” Braier told IndieWire.
During the COVID lockdown, Braier used enforced downtime to make that mirror. She started organizing workshops. panel discussions. mentorship programs. a worldwide crew recommendation list. and even a Discord for cinematographers at much earlier stages. The community has come together as Deep Light. a group Braier oversees—modded by many of her mentees—to pass along both conceptual tools and the practical ones.
But the conversations she was watching online kept drifting into one direction.
“You have thousands of YouTube accounts and Instagram accounts and online things and publications, and everyone talks about the tools. And there’s new tools every day — new cameras, new light. I felt like [the conversation] was really becoming about the tools and not about the meaning,” Braier said. She wanted cinematographers to wrestle with bigger questions instead: “What are we doing with these tools?. What stories are we telling as filmmakers?. Why do we want to be filmmakers?. Why do we want to produce images?”.
To help people answer those questions. Deep Light has started running workshops led by filmmakers with distinctive points of view on image creation. The first is led by Bradford Young at PanaVision. Braier said there were 30 people, and that Young ran sessions for two days. Deep Light recorded some of it—she added that some parts were off the record so that Young could talk more freely.
A recorded version is being edited now, with Braier hoping to launch it around August.
Deep Light is also working on a separate interview series called “Through Their Eyes,” focused on career challenges that don’t always fit neatly into a film-specific discussion or a gear survey. Braier said she’s posted wide-ranging talks with Lol Crawley, Michael Bauman, and Autumn Durald Arkapaw.
“We ask them about the 10 films that shaped their DNA, and then based on that, we also do a Cine Club,” Braier said.
That Cine Club began in May with “Malcolm X,” which Braier said is one of Autumn’s favorite movies. Braier added that the next session of the club is set for July.
Online communities for cinematographers and aspiring DPs already exist, and Braier isn’t pretending Deep Light is the only option. Still. she sees her organizing and teaching within her own community as the thing that keeps her perspective fresh—and keeps her excited about the movies she wants to make.
In her view, it also matters for people who feel stuck on the margins of the industry’s idea of “success.”
“There’s always this perception that people in this town perceive success as going into studio movies. as getting out of indies to do Marvel. ” Braier said. “I don’t want out of indies. I’m here for these kinds of movies. And so I think it’s important — this society gets you very confused, with Instagram and all these things. So for me, it’s like, what’s the idea of success?. To me, success is doing movies that we love.”.
Natasha Braier Deep Light cinematography director of photography Bradford Young PanaVision Through Their Eyes Lol Crawley Michael Bauman Autumn Durald Arkapaw cinematographers Discord mentorship independent film