Journal
Director and cinematographer notes from inside the work: light, faces, movement, rooms, performance and the choices that still hold up.
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Working notes on direction, cinematography, performance and the visual decisions inside selected projects.
Selected Work ·
Jamie brings contemporary dance into a story told through social scenes and private exchanges. Directed and choreographed by Vienna Hank and Kensley Iwamoto, the 2026 short combines their lead performances with cinematography and colour by James Alton. These three frames show the shift from a warm group scene to a blue night exterior and a close performance shot.
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Cinematography ·
This photograph was taken in 2017. Nine years later, it still speaks to my willingness to get the shot—and to how much experience can add to that willingness.
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Cinematography ·
Before filming Last of a Dying Breed, I thought I wanted the softness and character of vintage lenses. We put Roark Critchlow on a couch and compared older glass, modern lenses and Black Pro-Mist in black and white. Watching the test changed my mind: I wanted a modern, sharp, crisp, high-contrast image, with diffusion added only where we wanted it.
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Performance ·
CBC/Radio-Canada is accepting applications from Canadian musical artists who want to represent the country at the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest. Eligible singers and live performers in Kelowna, West Kelowna, the Okanagan, Vancouver, Victoria and across British Columbia can apply until September 9 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific.
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Director Notes ·
The first half of Team Deakins' conversation with Steven Soderbergh stayed with me because it kept returning to a practical question: what is this film trying to be, and what rules will help us make it that way? Vision is not separate from execution. It has to reach the actors, the camera, the room, the schedule and the edit.
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Selected Work ·
Midlife Shuffle turns a self-help session into a surreal encounter with its participants' younger selves. Matt Che'z Forster directed the 2026 short for Northern Monkey Productions; James Alton served as producer, B-camera operator and assistant DP.
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Selected Work ·
Trevor Ingram's Nothing Down That Road moves through a weathered cabin, an empty rural road and sunlit hills in British Columbia. Marie Ashwood directed the 2026 music video; James Alton produced and served as director of photography.
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Selected Work ·
Kelowna and Kasugai are marking 45 years as sister cities in 2026. The City of Kelowna is sharing 40 Years of Friendship, the 2021 short documentary directed, photographed and edited by James Alton.
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Selected Work ·
Colorado, Alexandra Wright's first official music video, placed third in Music Videos and received Best Song at the 2026 Okanagan Screen Awards. James Alton directed, produced, photographed, edited and coloured the film in Kelowna.
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Selected Work ·
Open Road has two nominations at the 2026 Josie Music Awards: Song of the Year — Country Male for Kris Anders, and Best Actress in a Music Video for Giuliana Carbone. James Alton directed, produced and photographed the video across the Okanagan.
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Director Notes ·
In 2020, I spent two days at Kingfisher Interpretive Centre filming a seven-part education series beside the Lower Shuswap River. I arrived with cameras. I left knowing far more about salmon, trees and watersheds than I expected.
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Director Notes ·
Seeing Ginny Becker again at the 2026 BC Leo Awards brought me back to what Ginny's Story was actually about: seeing the human cost inside a system, helping tell it clearly, and staying connected to the people who trusted me with the work.
Read note Director Notes ·
Looking back at older documentary and interview work makes me slower in the right way. A frame can be careful and still be cinematic, but it has to earn the room before it starts taking anything from it.
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I care about the frame, but only if the person still feels alive inside it. The image can be controlled and still leave room for something human.
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Cinematography ·
The Older Bastard Brother is one of the older pieces I still come back to because the lighting is doing practical work: holding Dave MacKinnon's face, keeping the room tense, and letting the western feeling stay contained.
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Selected Work ·
The late-2025 and 2026 projects feel closer to how I work now. I am choosing frames a little cleaner, trusting faces more, and leaving more room for the thing that is actually happening.
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Performance ·
Dance and music films need more than coverage. I want the camera to feel close to the rhythm without taking the performance away from the person doing it.
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Director Notes ·
The Letter works for me because the scene is small enough that every choice shows. The room, the sisters, the letter and the Christmas practicals all had to carry pressure without making the film feel bigger than it was.
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Director Notes ·
Blood Brothers has not really had its public life yet, so I do not want to talk about it like an archive piece. What I can see already is the instinct I was chasing: keep the pressure contained, let the faces carry it, and use darkness without losing the person.
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Selected Work ·
A brush against a wall, a drawing over coffee, then a mural across a public building. Jomae — Mural Artists is a 2024 commercial featuring Liz Ranney and Dylan Ranney, directed, photographed and edited by James Alton. Watch the complete 91-second film below, followed by two frames from its painting and planning sequences.
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Selected Work ·
Tennyson King's 2022 music video It Ain't Easy puts the singer inside a rough-edged arm-wrestling club, moving from improvised outdoor training to a final match. James Alton directed and photographed the one-day production.
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