Date of Birth

Mini Biography

Born in Washington, D.C. in 1952 to parents Robert and Madelene, Paul moved to California in the late 50s; grew up in Gardena and the San Fernando Valley, and attended Rolling Hills High School in Palos Verdes, graduating in 1970. Painting and sculpting were a pursuit from the early teen years and remain so to this day. He attended University at Cal State Long Beach, and the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. While in art school Babin discovered the love of film making. He returned to Los Angeles, enrolling at the University of Southern California in 1974, earning a Bachelors and Masters degree in Cinema, 1977, majoring in cinematography and writing. He was an assistant cameraman from '77 to '83 while at the same time shooting documentary and industrial films and videos. Paul became a member of IATSE in 1979 as an assistant cameraman, becoming a full time camera operator in 1984. Babin worked on non-union movies and television shows until getting a break on Always (1989), for Steven Spielberg. Spielberg, a very fine operator himself, was infamous for abandoning his director's chair, moving the operator aside and running the camera himself. At the end of the production of "Always" he jotted a note to Babin that included the remark, "thanks for keeping me in my chair". By 1992, having become camera operator to Allen Davaiu, ASC, Babin experienced another career high on the movie "Fearless", directed by Peter Weir. Weir's method of summoning the creative potential within a cast and crew gave Babin a model of the ideal in collaborative film-making. In the mid-nineties, Babin was the camera operator on two pictures directed by Francis Coppola. Coppola's passion and focus on performance impressed Babin and gave him additional impetus to direct.

... Paul C. Babin, Charles Bailey, ...

This stretch version of the C-130J ...