The late Conrad Hall is among five nominations announced today (Jan 23) by the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) for its Outstanding Achievement Award. Hall is posthumously nominated for his work on Road To Perdition, while the rest of the line-up is Michael Ballhaus for Gangs of New York, Pawel Edelman for The Pianist, Ed Lachman for Far From Heaven and Rodrigo Prieto for Frida. The honour will be handed out at the 17th Annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards gala at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles on Feb 16.

This is the fifth ASC nomination for Hall, who died on Jan 4. The veteran cinematographer won the award for Tequila Sunrise in 1988, Searching For Bobby Fischer in 1993 and American Beauty in 1999. It is a first nomination for the other four.

"The truth is that there is no easy or exact way to judge artistic achievements in cinematography, because it is a subjective and collaborative art form," ASC chairman of the awards committee Owen Roizman said in a statement. "These five amazingly talented artists were selected by their peers in ASC based on how effectively their images tell stories. I can assure you that it wasn't an easy decision, because many cinematographers displayed an incredible range of talent that contributed to the success of last year's films."