California native, who interned under Francis F. Coppola, and was fortunate enough to have Francis as his ‘storytelling mentor’ while in school. He then moved to Los Angeles where he was camera intern under John Toll, ASC and Underwater legend Mike Thomas.
Immediately after he met Comedian / Director Bobcat Goldthwait and served as Director of Photography on the feature film “Sleeping Dogs Lie” that competed at Sundance in 2006 and released in theaters that same year.
Fascinated by the beauty and difficulty of the underwater world, Ian focused on Underwater Cinematography, taking on whatever projects he could, pushing them visually further and further, until he was shooting for Beyoncé, Apple, the major networks, and Feature Films for James Gunn and Ron Howard. Ian and his team tell beautiful stories in the harshest conditions possible…"Cinematography on Hard Mode”
His ‘above water’ work continued with a pair of streaming series for Creator / Show-Runner Corinna Vistan, with their first project “K-Love” earning him a Best Cinematography nomination at the Asian Television Awards, and their second project taking home a Silver Dolphin for “Best Series” at the 2024 Cannes Television Awards. Plus a Clio for Cinematography for a commercial starring Steph Curry.
Serving as Director of Photography on FOX’s reboot of BAYWATCH is a natural fit combining his career’s work above and below the water.
