# Michael Coulter

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Michael_Coulter
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Michael_Coulter.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Coulter
> Source revision: 1357226441
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

Scottish cinematographer (b. 1952)

Michael Coulter Born Michael Daley Coulter (1952-08-29) 29 August 1952 (age 73) Glasgow, Scotland, UK Other name Mike Coulter Years active 1972–present Relatives Charles Gormley (brother-in-law) Website www.michael-coulter.com

**Michael Daley Coulter** (born 29 August 1952[1]) is a Scottish [cinematographer](/source/Cinematographer).

He was nominated for an [Academy Award](/source/Academy_Award_for_Best_Cinematography) and a [BAFTA Award](/source/BAFTA_Award_for_Best_Cinematography) for his work on *[Sense and Sensibility](/source/Sense_and_Sensibility_(1995_film))*.[2]

Coulter is also member of the [British Society of Cinematographers](/source/British_Society_of_Cinematographers), and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

## Early life

Coulter was born in [Glasgow](/source/Glasgow) in 1952. He was introduced to the local film business by his director brother-in-law, the [Charles Gormley](/source/Charles_Gormley).[1]

He started as a gopher for local production companies making [industrial films](/source/Sponsored_film), before moving on to load the black and white film stock into camera magazines at football matches. He went freelance in 1975.

## Career

Coulter became acquainted with writer/director [Bill Forsyth](/source/Bill_Forsyth), shooting in his 1972 documentary short *Islands of the West*. He subsequently filmed Forsyth's first feature, *[That Sinking Feeling](/source/That_Sinking_Feeling)* (1979). Coulter operated for [Chris Menges](/source/Chris_Menges) on Forsyth's next pictures, *[Local Hero](/source/Local_Hero_(film))* (1983) and *[Comfort and Joy](/source/Comfort_and_Joy_(1984_film))* (1984), which Coulter describes as "unmissable opportunities to work with a man I admired tremendously".

During the early 1980s he also worked on many documentaries. "Documentaries made you resourceful, inventive. You had to make things work somehow. Also the life-experience of 'travel broadening the mind' was important for me". He enjoyed a brief stint in France during the early 1980s, as an assistant to cinematographer [Pierre-William Glenn](/source/Pierre-William_Glenn), but it was back in the UK that he passed a watershed.

He was just about to start work as the camera operator on *[No Surrender](/source/No_Surrender_(1985_film))* (1985), when the original director of photography had to pull out.

He has shot numerous commercials directed by [Charles Sturridge](/source/Charles_Sturridge), [Tom Hooper](/source/Tom_Hooper), [Mark Mylod](/source/Mark_Mylod), [David Jellison](/source/David_Ellison) (for Kleenex), Gerard de Thame (for Nissan, Rolex, and KIA), among others.

Coulter is represented by [McKinney Macartney Management](http://www.mckinneymacartney.com/directors-of-photography/michael-coulter-bsc/) in the UK and [Gersh](https://gersh.com/production/clients/michael-coulter-bsc/) in the US.[3]

## Filmography

### Film

**Feature film**

Year Title Director 1979 That Sinking Feeling Bill Forsyth 1981 Gregory's Girl 1985 No Surrender Peter Smith The Good Father Mike Newell 1986 Heavenly Pursuits Charles Gormley 1987 Housekeeping Bill Forsyth 1988 The Dressmaker Jim O'Brien 1989 Breaking In Bill Forsyth Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale Ann Guedes Eduardo Guedes Diamond Skulls Nick Broomfield 1991 Where Angels Fear to Tread Charles Sturridge 1992 Monster in a Box Nick Broomfield The Long Day Closes Terence Davies 1994 Four Weddings and a Funeral Mike Newell Being Human Bill Forsyth 1995 The Neon Bible Terence Davies Sense and Sensibility Ang Lee 1997 FairyTale: A True Story Charles Sturridge 1998 My Giant Michael Lehmann 1999 Notting Hill Roger Michell Mansfield Park Patricia Rozema 2002 Killing Me Softly Chen Kaige 2003 Love Actually Richard Curtis 2008 The Bank Job Roger Donaldson 2013 The Lovers[a] Roland Joffé 2015 Slaba plec? Krzysztof Lang 2019 The Hustle Chris Addison 2021 A Castle for Christmas Mary Lambert

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Shared credit with Ben Nott

### Television

Year Title Director Notes 1990 4 Play Ross Devenish Episode "Madly in Love" 2018 Shetland Rebecca Gatward 3 episodes 2019 Wild Bill Annie Griffin 2 episodes 2020 Breeders Chris Addison 5 episodes 2022 Outlander Christiana Ebohon-Green Justin Molotnikov 3 episodes

**TV movies**

Year Title Director 1990 The Widowmaker John Madden 1993 Foreign Affairs Jim O'Brien 1995 The Infiltrator John Mackenzie 1996 Eskimo Day Piers Haggard 2024 A Scottish Love Scheme Heather Hawthorn Doyle

## Awards and nominations

Institution Year Category Title Result Academy Awards 1996 Best Cinematography Sense and Sensibility Nominated BAFTA Awards 1996 Best Cinematography Nominated BAFTA Scotland Awards 1997 Craft Award for Outstanding Contribution to Film or Television —N/a Won British Society of Cinematographers 1994 Best Cinematography in a Theatrical Feature Film Four Weddings and a Funeral Nominated 1995 Sense and Sensibility Nominated Chlotrudis Awards 1998 Best Cinematography FairyTale: A True Story Nominated Valladolid International Film Festival 1995 Best Director of Photography The Neon Bible Won

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_1-1) ["MICHAEL COULTER"](https://www.cinematographers.nl/PaginasDoPh/coulter.htm). *www.cinematographers.nl*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200124175800/http://www.cinematographers.nl/PaginasDoPh/coulter.htm) from the original on 24 January 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Oscars1996_2-0)** ["The 68th Academy Awards (1996) Nominees and Winners"](http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1996). *[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences](/source/Academy_of_Motion_Picture_Arts_and_Sciences)*. AMPAS. Retrieved 25 March 2014.{{[cite web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_web)}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_deprecated_archival_service))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Michael Coulter BSC - Cinematographer"](http://michael-coulter.com/contact.html). *michael-coulter.com*. Retrieved 29 April 2020.

## External links

- [Michael Coulter](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0183533/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier))

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND WorldCat National United States Czech Republic Spain Poland Israel People Deutsche Biographie Other IdRef Yale LUX

This article about a cinematographer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

- [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cinematographer-stub)
- [t](/source/Template_talk%3ACinematographer-stub)
- [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Cinematographer-stub)

This biographical article related to film in the United Kingdom is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

- [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:UK-film-bio-stub)
- [t](/source/Template_talk%3AUK-film-bio-stub)
- [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:UK-film-bio-stub)

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Michael Coulter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Coulter) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Coulter?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.