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Behind The Lens With Cinematographer Omar Ragab

You can’t really get any closer to the action on a movie set than a cinematographer can. He (or she) is right there in the actor’s face for a close up and usually moving out of the way when a punch is being thrown at the star of the film. Omar Ragab knows all about this kind of work because he has been around filmmaking and camerawork for years. As he tells it, he has “cut his teeth” on films as a young cinematographer through being a Gaffer (Chief Lighting Technician),  camera operator  and cinematographer for some of the most prestigious directors of photography and film directors in the world. 

Omar has been the cameraman, Camera Operator and cinematographer for countless films, music videos, commercials and documentaries. Besides shooting those kinds of projects, Omar has also been the cinematographer on some famous reality shows such as: Cooking with Paris, Master Chef Season 11 and Hype House, among others. He is proficient in the use of all camera equipment, digital or film, and he feels that he is one of the very few fortunate people that still get to shoot projects in 16mm and 35 mm film in an industry that is moving closer and closer every day to being shot in full digital. Omar Ragab is originally from Cairo, Egypt and currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Film & Digital Media (Production) University of California, Santa Cruz. Omar has also directed and shot six short films under his own banner GUDAWG Productions, of which he is the CEO and founder,

His background originally stems from documentary filmmaking, which has enabled him to be a resourceful filmmaker who can do quality work on a very low budget. He started in independent productions and that allowed him to wear a lot of different hats, which in turn, enabled him to see and learn and grasp the whole process of making movies from many unique points of view. All of that experience, by default, developed in him the ability to be able pick up any camera and operate it as if he has been using it since he was a kid. And in a real sense that is true, simply because of all the years he has invested in learning the ins and outs of cinematography and how each camera works and how to operate it.

When the opportunity came to work on projects with larger budgets, he was certainly ready and able to jump in without missing a beat. His skills, developed from being a camera operator and cinematographer on independent films, along with filming commercials, music videos and documentaries, came in very handy when he began working with companies and networks like Netflix, Disney, Amazon and HBO Max to name a few.