American cinematographer Rachel Morrison is making history as she is the first woman ever nominated for cinematography Oscar for her work on Dee Rees' period drama, Mudbound.
The 39-year-old also earned accolades for bringing Wakanda to life — Ryan Coogler's Black Panther. She is the first ever woman cinematographer to shoot a film from Marvel Cinematic Universe.
"Ryan's also incredibly collaborative. He really loves to hear everybody's opinions, which I think is part of what really inspires the people around him to tune in and give him their best work," she told The Los Angeles Times during an interview.
And, following the announcement of Oscar 2018 nominations, Morrison learned that she will vie for the Best Cinematography award at the 90th Academy Awards.
"Honestly I am still in shock a little bit, but I am incredibly excited and incredibly honored. This is literally a dream come true," Morrison told ABC News after the nominations were unveiled.
"I am certainly grateful both for the opportunity to be the first on the platform and really hopefull, it inspires young women to follow their dreams and to get in the camera department and become cinematographers," she added.
For the Los Angeles based cinematographer, the feeling of being nominated in a male-dominating category is 'literally a dream come true' moment.
Speaking of the Netflix original, Morrison told ABC News, "I really think we have a responsibility as filmmakers to infuse things with a message. 'Mudbound' was kind of a dream for me because it was the chance to do something that was visceral and visual, but also had something important to say."
Morrison, who studied photography and film at New York University, is the first female to bag the nomination at American Society of Cinematographers Award for outstanding achievement in a theatrical release.
While talking to The Los Angeles Times, she could not hide her emotion as saying, "I can't tell you how many ASC members came up to me and said, 'We're just so thrilled for you,' and 'I'm just so happy I got to see this in my lifetime.' That's been really incredible."
"I think there's almost an assumption that there's a resistance on the other side, but that's been really refreshing to realize."
However, the Black Panther cinematographer said she began to see the changes in the industry following the #MeToo era.
"My hope is that the nomination is for the work and not tokenism. I'm honored to be a part of this year but my hope is that it's ... for the work itself," she told ABC News. "It feels like times are changing finally. We are bursting through the ceilings and hopefully never looking back."
"Statistically, there is such a small percentage of us still. We just need to get our numbers up and then you'll see a lot more of us every year come nomination time."
