Paul Atkins (cinematographer)

Paul Atkins is an American cinematographer specializing in natural history films. Atkins is known for the footage of killer whales preying on seal pups in the BBC's The Trials of Life (1990), for which he won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award. Atkins also was the director of photography for the Cape Horn unit for the feature film Master and Commander, which won an Academy Award for Cinematography by Russell Boyd, ASC. Atkins has been nominated for an Emmy award numerous times, winning it for his work in Great White Shark (1995) (Cinematography), and Hawaii: Strangers in Paradise (1991) (Cinematography, Outstanding Cultural Programming). Recently he has formed a partnership with Terrence Malick, serving as a second-unit director for The Tree of Life (2011) and Malick's currently untitled sixth feature, as well as director of photography for Voyage of Time (2016).

Atkins' union affiliation is with IATSE. Atkins resides in Hawaii, where he has also worked locally such as shooting commercials for Hawaiian Electric Company and US Senator Daniel Inouye. He works together with his wife, Grace Atkins, in their company Moana Productions.