NatalieKingston

Natalie Kingston is an award-winning director of photography whose recent work on the triple Golden Globe-nominated and four-time Emmy-nominated Apple TV+ crime drama, Black Bird, earned her an Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography For A Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. 

Black Bird represented a series of firsts: the first TV show Kingston shot, her first Emmy nomination, and the first time a female director of photography took home the win for the category or for any narrative fiction television series cinematography category. Kingston’s work on Black Bird was also selected to screen in the TV Series Competition at the prestigious cinematography-centered Camerimage Film Festival.

Kingston recently wrapped production on the feature film, The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write about a Serial Killer for acclaimed director Tolga Karaçelik. The film stars Steve Buscemi and John Magaro.

In 2023, Kingston’s artistry earned recognition by the ASC with a spot on American Cinematographer’s Rising Stars of Cinematography. 

Previously Kingston shot Shapeless, director Samantha Aldana’s surreal feature drama which premiered at Tribeca Festival in 2021. The film garnered critical acclaim from outlets such as Film Inquiry which described Kingston’s work as doing an exquisite job of marrying what’s on-screen and how Ivy sees herself, so that the viewer’s interpretations align. 

Earlier that year, Kingston lensed the short film Dorothea’s Blues for director Channing Godfrey-Peoples, which premiered at SXSW.

Kingston has worked on several other award-winning features including director Jim Cummings’ The Wolf of Snow Hollow, for which Forbes magazine described her work as absolutely praiseworthy. 

Similarly, Variety called the imagery of Lost Bayou - which Kingston shot for director Brian C. Miller Richard and premiered at Tribeca Festival in 2019 - relaxed and beautiful. It says the film captured the remote milieu’s sunlight-dappled stillness and allure. She also lensed Two Trains Runnin’, Sam Pollard’s Grammy-nominated documentary. In 2015, Kingston earned a special Cinematography Award from the New Orleans Film Festival for her work across three short films. 

Outside of film, Kingston also lenses music videos. In 2021, she shot Break for Julia Stone ft. St. Vincent, which premiered at SXSW the same year. She also collaborated with Billie Eilish on the music videos, You Should See Me In A Crown and Bitches Broken Hearts.

In 2019, Kingston photographed Alma Har’el’s Free The Work campaign directed by Amber Grace Johnson, which earned a spotlight at Cannes Lions that same year. 

As a member of the International Cinematographers Guild and a multifaceted artisan, Kingston consistently produces praise-worthy imagery for the projects she shoots. She lives in Los Angeles and is represented by Worldwide Production Agency (WPA).