Flying into erupting volcanoes, chasing polar bears, crouching within inches of tigers or taking calls from the International Space Station are all just another ordinary day at work for James Neihouse.
“Hours of sheer boredom followed by seconds of absolute terror — that’s pretty much the way my life runs.”
Neihouse’s preeminent cinematography career spans some 40 years and has won many awards. He worked on the first IMAX underwater film called “Ocean.” He was credited as director of photography for the IMAX film, “The Eruption of Mount St. Helens,” which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject).
In recent years, Neihouse joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization best known for hosting the annual Academy Awards — The Oscars.
He also became a member of the prestigious American Society of Cinematographers, recognized with “ASC” after the names of the some of the world’s greatest cinematographers. Membership is by invitation only and includes multiple levels of approval before joining.
Before becoming an acclaimed cinematographer, Neihouse grew up in Paris, Arkansas. His father, Joseph, died when he was seven. His mother, Pauline, worked as a teacher in Logan County.
“By any stretch of the imagination, we were not well off,” he said. “But we never wanted for anything. She worked her butt off.”
As a child of the ’60s, he dreamed of one day becoming an astronaut. By the time he graduated high school in 1973, the space program had slowed its growth, and Neihouse began to consider an alternate career.
His mother had introduced him to visual communication when she served as a high school yearbook sponsor.
“In my 7th grade year, I was assistant photographer,” he said. “And my 8th grade year, I got promoted to chief photographer for the yearbook. I did that through the rest of my time in high school.”
After high school, Neihouse spent the summer and fall of 1973 at State College of Arkansas (SCA), now the University of Central Arkansas. His mother attended SCA to earn her master’s in 1969, so he was familiar with the campus.
While his time at SCA was brief, he worked on the University yearbook, “The Scroll,” and the radio station, then called KSCA.
In January 1974, he packed up his “little gold Camaro” to head to Brooks Institute of Photography in California, now the Brooks Institute, but he immediately met an obstacle.
“I didn’t get but about 10 miles out of town before it broke down, and [I] had to hop out,” he said. “Fixed it. Went on. Never turned back.”
He double majored in industrial scientific photography and color technology. His plan was to get a solid film education but also a technical understanding of photography. He took one additional leap, this time in very deep waters, to further his education.
“As a minor, I went into underwater photography and learned how to scuba dive and shoot pictures underwater,” Neihouse said, adding that he also became a dive instructor to earn extra money.
Immediately after graduation, he took a position with a company that specialized in marine photography. It was there that he began to see his dreams unfold.
“Graeme Ferguson, who is the co-founder of IMAX, came to the production company and said, ‘I want to shoot underwater with this IMAX camera that we have. It’s never been done before. Can you help me?'” he said.
“I was able to get involved with the first underwater IMAX film there and because I was dive instructor, and Graeme didn’t know how to dive, I gave him scuba lessons.”
Neihouse and Ferguson became, and remain, good friends. “He was the one who brought me into the space program with IMAX,” Neihouse said.
In the IMAX Space Technology Inc., Neihouse trains astronauts how to use IMAX cameras in space. In roughly 30 years, he has trained more than 125 astronauts on 23 shuttle flights and several space station expeditions in the operation of the IMAX camera systems.
“I ended up where I wanted to be in a round-about sort of method,” Neihouse said.
He can recall many instances working with the space program and astronauts, but one memory stands out more than others. Neihouse was working from home and walked away from his phone for a few minutes.
“I got this missed call from the International Space Station. And so I look at [my phone], and its got this voice message,” he said with a hearty chuckle. “I listen to the voice message. It goes, ‘Hi James. It’s Terry Virts [crew commander, Space Station’s Expedition 43] on the Space Station calling to ask you a question.'”
Working with the space program allowed Neihouse to meet his wife, Leslie, who worked at NASA at the time they met. The couple has two sons, Joseph Graeme, 22, and Jacob Bernard, 18. Neihouse credits his family for much of his success, as they allowed him to travel the world to pursue his passion.
As he continues to jaunt from one country and project to the next, he has begun to think about retirement, but not in the way most people would.
“I have no retirement plans. The future holds more of the same for me, just to keep working,” he said. “It’s my passion. I love what I do.”