About
Dustin Kukuk is a director of photography born and raised in Oklahoma who specializes in advanced motion-controlled timelapse & astrophotography. His first introduction into this technique came while studying photography technology at Oklahoma State University in 2007. He became obsessed with filming his own timelapse sequences for colleg
Dustin Kukuk is a director of photography born and raised in Oklahoma who specializes in advanced motion-controlled timelapse & astrophotography. His first introduction into this technique came while studying photography technology at Oklahoma State University in 2007. He became obsessed with filming his own timelapse sequences for college projects, which led to an internship with award-winning timelapse photographer, Tom Lowe, on his first IMAX style project, "TimeScapes." After his internship, Dustin was hired as 1st assistant camera operator, spending over 18 months working on the film and eventually becoming co-producer.
Over the next few years, Dustin worked closely with Lowe on other films; From filming timelapse and slow-motion sequences with specially modified infrared cameras on "Visitors" by the pioneer of non-narrative filmmaking, director Godfrey Reggio, to filming multiple natural history sequences for the IMAX film "Voyage of Time" by transcendent director, Terrence Malick.
In 2012, everything changed when Dustin moved to Dubai to start filming "Awaken", the second feature IMAX documentary by Tom Lowe. For over 5 years, Dustin was a crucial part of the main timelapse unit filming some of the most remote and exotic locations in the world across the Middle East, Southeast Asia, North & South America, & Southern Africa while using custom motion-controlled timelapse systems invented specifically for this project. The groundbreaking gear includes a one-of-a-kind Technocrane built for multi-day, telescoping timelapse shots and a rover developed by Kessler Crane similar to the one on Mars, for long distance tracking timelapse shots. The film premiered in the Winter of 2018 during the opening ceremony of Black Nights Film Festival (POFF) in Tallinn, Estonia.
In 2017, Dustin served as the director of photography on multiple VR timelapse projects that were displayed at the two biggest camera manufacturers' booths', Canon & Sony, at the 2017 National Association of Broadcasters annual conference, the biggest camera-centric gathering in the world.
In the Summer of 2018 Dustin spent a month traveling all over the island of Cuba filming ultra high resolution 8K-16K motion-control timelapse sequences for an upcoming BBCEarth/IMAX documentary named CUBA set to release in mid 2020.
In 2019 Dustin spent multiple weeks in South America shooting motion-controlled timelapse shots for a new social/enviromental documentary currently in production that explores the effects of lithium mining in Chile & Argrentina & how it's impacting the native Andean tribal people's only natural water sournces that's set to release in 2024.
Dustin currently resides in Las Vegas, NV where he has been spending the last few years translating his love for timelapse into the world of large-format immersive projection-based installations that will change the way people experience entertainment in ways never before seen. This long-term project is on track to be finished in 2023.