Erin Harvey’s passion for images and filmmaking began at a young age, circling the globe with his photojournalist father before kindergarten and winning his first filmmaking award when he was twelve years old. Already confident in his career path, he saved up his paper route money to buy a video camera and years later traveled from his hometown of Richmond, Virginia to film school at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. It was then that he first gained a reputation as a cinematographer, shooting many of the films made there at the time.
Immediately after film school, Erin’s professional journey began with many long, hard days on the sets of some of Hollywood’s lowest budget films while serving as assistant camera, grip, electrician, gaffer, boom operator, production assistant, and more. While those experiences paid the rent (barely), he continued to develop his cinematography skills through shooting various independent projects, both narrative and documentary.
His documentary work eventually grew into a career of shooting for National Geographic Television, The Discovery Channel, The Smithsonian Channel, and PBS, among others. He has filmed a rich variety of stories across six continents, including Emmy winners Twice Born, set in a children's hospital, and Gorilla Murders, set deep in the Congo. The latter, a film about the struggle between gorillas, park rangers, armed rebels, and refugees, also garnered Erin a personal Emmy nomination for cinematography. Other highlights include The President’s Photographer, an intimate look inside the Obama White House, and Belief, a landmark seven-hour series that follows personal spiritual journeys set within much larger cultural and religious backdrops. Sometimes hired as a one-man producer/cinematographer/editor, he has crafted complete films about such diverse subjects as the dog show subculture in America, cheetahs in Botswana, jockeys at the Kentucky Derby, tigers in India, and firefighters in Venice.
Erin’s work has also made it to the big screen as the director of photography for theatrically released features. Autumn, a narrative feature shot entirely in France, was an official selection for the Toronto International Film Festival and received the Best Cinematography award at the Newport Beach Film Festival. And Spinning Plates, a feature-length documentary, won multiple Best Documentary and Audience Awards on the film festival circuit before its theatrical release.
