Gifted African American cinematographer who established himself on financially modest but artistically ambitious independent features before shifting to major motion pictures as a d.p. and genre films as a director. Dickerson became known as the ace director of photography for fellow NYU alumnus Spike Lee. His vibrant painterly camerawork enhanced Lee's student film "Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads" (1980) and his subsequent first six features. His first feature credit was John Sayles' "The Brother From Another Planet" (1984), an engaging social parable about a mute alien stranded in