Sam Nicholson, ASC: Uncharted Territory The visionary visual-effects innovator and entrepreneur is honored with the Curtis Clark ASC Technical Achievement Award. By Joe Fordham C 50 / APRIL 2023 reating special visual effects - seemingly impossible motion-picture images essential to telling the story at hand - is an art form that combines daring creativity and trailblazing technology, and requires practitioners who constantly seek new challenges. For Sam Nicholson, ASC, recipient of the 2023 Curtis Clark ASC Technical Achievement Award, this role seems tailor-made. Nicholson's creative aspirations sprang from an unlikely background in Monterey, Calif., where his father served with the U.S. Navy Office of Naval Research. " My father was a ship designer and deep-submergence expert, " he says. " He designed the first hydrofoils and was at the leading edge of technology in flying boats. We knew astronauts and aquanauts - all real achievers. " PHOTO BY DOUGLAS KIRKLAND.