Allen Guilford

Cinematographer Allen Guilford believed that images should stand back and tell the story, rather than get in the way of it. When he passed away in March 2009, an impressive roll call of local screen talents paid tribute.

Peter Jackson described Guilford as "a detailed and meticulous light cameraman", with a "wicked sense of humour". Fellow cinematographer Alun Bollinger wondered if he'd ever seen Guilford rattled. "He seemed to be able to go calmly about his work and get the job done elegantly and in good time, no hassles". Leon Narbey, another local camera legend, recalled how Guilford's images reflected his love of both contrast and "a heightened sense of naturalism". He also described Guilford's love of "old stylish things, including his hats, scarves and old squeaky leather jackets".   

Guilford did memorable work on a host of television productions, many of them period pieces — including landmark TV movie The God Boy, The Chosen, Greenstone, and Sonja Davies biopic Bread and Roses. His award-winning big-screen work crossed the gamut, from the painterly evocations of 1900s Paris in Narbey's The Footstep Man, to the gritty visions of Kiwi ganglands in What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? 

Allen Guilford grew up around Taranaki, in "tiny little places that were hardly a spot on the map". He became interested in photography through an uncle, then got a job in local radio.

In the mid 60s he went overseas. He worked in sound effects at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; his spare time was taken up by developing photos in a makeshift darkroom. In England he got a job in a photographic lab, and as a fashion photographer's assistant.

Five years later Guilford was back home — working at the NZ Broadcasting Corporation in Wellington, in the sound department. His transfer to the camera department was accelerated after being assigned to shoot footage of a horrifying Wellington fire, footage that would screen in many countries overseas.

In 1975 Guilford was rostered to shoot his first drama: The God Boy, based on the Ian Cross tale of a troubled family. In an interview with author Duncan Petrie, Guilford modestly ascribed the telemovie's vibrant look — including handheld camerawork and other documentary techniques — partly to inexperience, and not knowing "any different".

After working on a wide variety of television assignments, Guilford set off on another OE, and extended his leave without pay until the NZBC no longer required his services. Actually they'd done him a favour. On his return the renaissance in New Zealand filmmaking was in full swing; Guilford swapped career ladders.

He began again as a clapper loader on Bad Blood, and did focus pulling on commercials and John Laing thriller The Lost Tribe. He then moved up to operate the camera for the second unit of ‘Māori western' Utu. On the short film front, Guilford shot early Alison MacLean short Rud's Wife.

Guilford's first full-length feature as director of photography was the moody and shadow-filled Melanie Read psychological thriller Trial Run (1984), shot in 16mm, largely on the Whangaparoa Peninsula north of Auckland. The same period saw Guilford pouring his own money into one of his rare projects as director: The Longest Row, a documentary about his friend Peter Bird's epic row across the Pacific Ocean.

Over the next few years Guilford worked often as a camera operator, a role which reports to the director of photography. He was in France with John Gielgud for Katherine Mansfield project Leave All Fair, down 180 metre caverns for Vincent Ward's The Navigator, and in the suburbs of Auckland for Gaylene Preston's Ruby and Rata.

In 1989 he was invited at the last minute to Samoa, to take on cinematography duties for Flying Fox on a Freedom Tree, bringing a lush visual style to this adaptation of Albert Wendt's writings. Meanwhile popular tele-movie Old Scores saw Guilford shooting partly in Wales. Guilford had no involvement in the decision to give this cross-cultural rugby tale a cinema release, and regretted being given no opportunity to help determine the film's look during post-production.

Guilford's next movie The Footstep Man would win him a best cinematography award at the 1993 New Zealand Film and TV Awards. This moody film within a film was directed by Ruby and Rata cinematographer Leon Narbey, and shot partly in the former NZBC Shortland Street studios in Auckland. The Footstep Man features many scenes set in nineteenth-century Paris, but shot in Auckland, in the style of painter Edgar Degas. Narbey, no slouch in the camera department himself, has effusively praised Guilford's work on the film. 

His next two projects were period pieces: WWll romance Absent without Leave, and one of Guilford's personal favourites, Gaylene Preston's Bread and Roses, based on the life of activist Sonja Davies. Working with colleagues Narbey and Alun Bollinger, Guilford once again aimed for a naturalistic feel, fulfilling his mantra of "don't get flash ... just let everything happen in front of the camera".

Guilford's next three features fell largely below the commercial radar: the special-effects heavy Jack Brown Genius, the offbeat Chicken, and 50s coming of age tale The Climb. Guilford won a cinematography award for his work on The Climb, which was almost buried by legal battles between the film's producers and its investors. Many of the key scenes were set in a darkened room; camera operator Richard Bluck recalls how Guilford pushed the capacity of the film stock to capture moody images of actor John Hurt.  

Television was also keeping Guilford busy. In the last half of the 90s alone, he worked on political mini-series Fallout — based on the 1984 snap election — one-off drama Staunch, and some episodes of detective series Duggan. Colonial melodrama Greenstone saw him once again mining images from New Zealand's past.

Once Were Warriors sequel What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? proved one of Guilford's most high profile projects. The film brought with it the challenge of capturing images at night of dark-skinned characters, who were often clad in black leather. Guilford went for a colder, more moody look than the original movie, collaborating once again with Alun Bollinger (Guilford concentrated on lighting, while Bollinger operated the camera.)

Soon after, Guilford joined the massive Lord of the Rings crew, taking charge of the camera team on the breakaway unit (which worked closely with Peter Jackson's main unit). Guilford worked extensively on the Mines of Moria scenes from the first Rings film; he also captured the iconic shot where the ring spins out of Frodo's hand in a village tavern.

In 2003 Guilford tragically lost an eye in a car accident; he had fallen asleep while driving home, after a day making movies. He returned to work on 2008 short film The Trophy, which was invited to the Berlin Film Festival. Leon Narbey, who worked on the film with Ginny Loane, recalls how Guilford "sat at the split-monitor with his magnifying glass, observing our every move and giving quiet instructions for the lighting ... His twinkling eyes, his half smile and his raw wit will be sadly missed by us all."

Allen Guilford passed away on 10 March 2009.

Profile updated on 29 June 2018

Sources
Duncan Petrie, Shot in New Zealand (Auckland: Random House, 2007)
Alun Bollinger,  Sam Pillsbury, Richard Bluck, Peter Jackson, Kate White, Leon Narbey, Gaylene Preston, NZ Cinematographers Society members, 'Allen Guilford 1945 - 2009' - Onfilm, April 2009, page 10