Tom Richmond was born in Bronxville, New York in 1950. He earned a degree in photography from Harvard University. He was a camera operator on the TV movie documentary The Lord of the Universe (1974). From 1976 to 1978 he studied at the UCLA film school and from 1979 to 1980 he studied at the American Film Institute.
In the Eighties Mr. Richmond was a camera operator on the movies Repo Man (1984), Night of the Comet (1984), and Salvador (1986). He served as an election on the movie Scarred (1983) and an additional photographer on Troll (1986) and Walker (1987). He served as cinematographer on the TV show Powerhouse and the TV movies Amityville Horror: The Evil Escapes and Nightmare on the 13th Floor. He was cinematographer on the movies Running Hot (1984), Hardbodies (1984), Hard Rock Zombies (1985), Stand Alone (1985), Space Rage (1985), Chopping Mall (1986), Hardbodies 2 (1986), The Malibu Bikini Shop (1986), Straight to Hell (1987), Stand and Deliver (1988), The Chocolate War (1988), I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), and Pastime (1990).
In the Nineties Tom Richmond was the cinematographer on the movies Heaven is a Playground (1991), Roadside Prophets (1992), A Midnight Clear (1992), Killing Zoe (1993), Little Odessa (1994), Love and a .45 (1994), Homage (1995), Mother Night (1996), Johns (1996), First Love, Last Rites (1997), Oakland Underground (1997), Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), Wild Horses (1998), Waking the Dead (2000), and Gun Shy (2000). He served as cinematographer on the TV movie Mr. Stitch. He was also the director of photographer for the pickup unit for the movie The Winner (1996). He served as a key camera operator on the TV special David Blaine: Street Magic and a camera operator on the TV documentary A Hard Look. He was a camera operator on the documentary Hype! (1996).
In the Naughts Tom Richmond was the cinematographer on the movie The Château (2001), Chelsea Walls (2001), Knockaround Guys (2001), Hard Ball (2001), I'm With Lucy (2002), The Singing Detective (2003), House of 1000 Corpses (2003), Palindromes (2004), Right at Your Door (2006), Fast Track (2006), Chapter 27 (2007), Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008), The Perfect Age of Rock 'n' Roll (2009), Quit (2010), and All About Evil (2010). He served as cinematographer on episodes of the TV shows Cold Case, Tilt, and Tanner on Tanner, and the TV mini-series Fallen. He was an additional photographer on the movie Monster (2003) and the movie Inland Empire (2006).
In the Teens Tom Richmond was cinematographer on the movies Should've Been Romeo (2012), All That I Am (2013), A Birder's Guide to Everything (2013), Little Boxes (2016), My Art (2016), and Shaking the Habitual: Live from Terminal 5 (2017).
Tom Richmond was also cinematographer on music videos, among them videos for ""Out of the Blue: Into the Fire" by The The, "Jeremy" (the colour version) by Pearl Jam, "Regret" by New Order, and "The Whole World Lost Its Head" by The Go-Gos. Tom Richmond also taught at both Brooklyn College and New York University.
While the movies of many cinematographers have similar looks, each one of Tom Richmond's movies had a different look. In a 1998 interview Tom Richmond explained, "My style is completely based on the script and the director" and later in the interview said, "Every director is different in their styles and in their ability to communicate. All my films look different because they're not my visions; they're my reflections of the directors' visions." Tom Richmond certainly had a talent for capturing the mood and feel of any given movie. On James Gray's Little Odessa he used the 2:35 aspect ratio, the widescreen aspect ratio often used by Sergio Leone. For Keenen Ivory Wayans's I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, he perfectly captured the look of the Blaxpoitation movies of the Seventies.
Not only could Tom Richmond capture the perfect look for any given film, but he was a talented photographer capable of capturing beautiful images on film. Stand and Deliver begins with a moving shot of beautiful water. It is only when the camera pulls out that one realizes it is the Los Angeles River. Shots in Slums of Beverly Hills of Los Angeles's famous palm trees are also impressive. So gifted was Tom Richmond as a cinematographer than frames in his movies also work very well as still photographs. Tom Richmond was never nominated for an Oscar, although he was nominated three times for Independent Spirit Awards (once for Stand and Deliver) and he won a Sundance Award for Right at Your Door). While he might not have received much in the way of awards or even nominations, he was still one of the best cinematographers of the late 20th and early 21st Centuries.
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