Sad news out today that two great filmmakers — cinematographer Mike deGruy and Australian television writer-producer Andrew Wight — were killed in a helicopter crash in Australia over the weekend. Both of the men were specialists in underwater documentary (Mike worked with James Cameron on the epic, Titanic.) Read on for more of the news..

This photo is of Roger Durling, James Cameron, and Mike DeGruy at the 22nd Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival back in 2007. James and Mike were good friends, and they worked together on Titanic. He was also the director of undersea photography for Cameron’s 2005 Last Mysteries of the Titanic.

“The deep-sea community lost two of its finest” with the deaths of the two underwater documentary specialists. David Bennett, president of Australia’s South Coast Recreational Flying Club, said the pair had set off to film a documentary when they crashed.” “Mike and Andrew were like family to me,” Cameron said. “They were my deep-sea brothers and both were true explorers who did extraordinary things and went places no human being has been.”

The sad thing with filmmakers who work behind the scenes is that they often don’t get the recognition they deserve. Mike DeGruy won multiple Emmy and British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards for cinematography. Wight was the writer and the producer of the 3-D movie Sanctum, which took in $100 million and was Australian cinema’s biggest box office hit of 2010.

It is good to acknowledge the film industry’s behind the scene icons – rest in peace Mike and Andrew.

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