L. Dal Clawson had spent about 17 years behind a movie camera when he helped found the A.S.C.

American Society of Cinematographers

The American Society of Cinematographers is an educational, cultural, and professional organization. It is not a labor union, and it is not a guild. Membership is by invitation and is extended only to directors of photography and special effects experts with distinguished credits in the film...

, but nothing is known about his earliest years in the business. He was born around 1886 in Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...

, and his first known feature credits as a cinematographer

Cinematographer

A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...

 are for director Lois Weber

Lois Weber

Lois Weber was an American silent film actress, screenwriter, producer, and director, who is considered "the most important female director the American film industry has known", and "one of the most important and important and prolific film directors in the era of silent films". Film historian...

 at Bosworth, Inc., and Universal in 1914-15. This was after graduating from the University of Utah as a mechanical engineer. He also worked for the American Film Company and Ince-Triangle-KayBee, where photographic superintendent and future director Irvin Willat

Irvin Willat

Irvin Willat was an American film director of the silent film era. He directed 39 films between 1917 and 1937. Early in his career Willat worked as a cinematographer on several films...

 would remember Clawson as “sort of like a news cameraman” who was not especially noted for his lighting style. He also worked around the world, even being decorated by the King of Siam for his work. His book on this adventure was entitled "How I Shot the King of Siam".

By the early 1920s, Clawson was chief cinematographer for popular star Anita Stewart

Anita Stewart

Anita Stewart was an American actress and film producer of the early silent film era.-Early life and career:...

 at Louis B. Mayer Productions, but later in the decade, he often worked as a second cameraman. He was lead cinematographer on the early talkie Syncopation (1929), but his few remaining published credits are for expedition films such as Hunting Tigers in India (1929) and low-budget East Coast productions such as The Black King and The Horror (both 1932).

Clawson died in Englewood, New Jersey

Englewood, New Jersey

Englewood is a city located in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 27,147.Englewood was incorporated as a city by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of...

, on July 18, 1937. His obituary states a cause of intestinal malady at the local hospital; it further reports that it happened within the hour of his mother. Clawson's widow received the telegram a half-hour after the widow had sent his mother a telegram of his death. No information was provided of the death of his mother. The obituary reported that his ashes would be buried in Salt Lake City.

His obituary was published in the New York Times on July 20, 1937.

Cinematographer

• The Dead March (1937) (original material)
• The Horror (1932)
• The Black King (1932)
• The Love Kiss (1930)
• Love at First Sight (1929)
• Black and Tan (1929)
• Hunting Tigers in India (1929)
• Syncopation (1929)
• The Slaver (1927)
• What Price Love? (1927)
• Miami (1924)
• The Lone Wolf (1924)
• Another Scandal (1924)
• The Marriage Chance (1922)
• The World's a Stage (1922)
• Rose o' the Sea (1922)
• The Woman He Married (1922)
• What Do Men Want? (1921)
• The Oath (1921/I)
• The Corsican Brothers (1920)
• Eve in Exile (1919)
• Bonds of Honor (1919)
• Her Kingdom of Dreams (1919)
• Back to God's Country (1919)
• Forbidden (1919)
• Mary Regan (1919)
• The Courageous Coward (1919)
• A Heart in Pawn (1919)
• A Midnight Romance (1919)
• When a Girl Loves (1919)
• The Temple of Dusk (1918)
• For Husbands Only (1918)
• The Red, Red Heart (1918)
• The Pride of New York (1917)
• The Conqueror (1917)
• Betrayed (1917)
• The Innocent Sinner (1917)
• The Silent Lie (1917)
• One Touch of Sin (1917)
• The Weaker Sex (1917)
• This Is the Life (1917)
• The Female of the Species (1916)
• The Love Thief (1916)
• The Honorable Algy (1916)
• Somewhere in France
  Somewhere in France
  Somewhere in France is a 1916 silent era war espionage drama motion picture starring Louise Glaum and Howard C. Hickman.Directed by Charles Giblyn and produced by Thomas H. Ince, the screenplay was adapted by J. G...
  
  (1916)
• The Vagabond Prince (1916)
• Honor Thy Name (1916)
• The Phantom (1916)
• Civilization (1916)
• The Dumb Girl of Portici (1916)
• The Call of the Cumberlands (1916)
• The Yankee Girl (1915)
• Scandal (1915)
• The Rosary (1915)
• Captain Courtesy (1915)
• Sunshine Molly (1915)
• Hypocrites (1915)
• It's No Laughing Matter (1915)
• The Career of Waterloo Peterson (1914)
• The Merchant of Venice (1914)

External links