He attended Columbia College in Chicago from 1982 to 1987, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree, taking up film making as a profession before transferring to the AFI Conservatory, where he graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree. He worked under Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, first as a gaffer, then as chief lighting technician, and eventually second unit DP. He shot numerous B-movies for Director Roger Corman and Director Katt Shea, as well as the romantic musical comedy Cool as Ice, starring Vanilla Ice.
He twice won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography in the 1990s, for Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. He has been nominated four additional times for Amistad, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, War Horse and Lincoln. In 2010, he was awarded the Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal by the AFI Conservatory.
Kamiński was first discovered by Steven Spielberg in 1991. After seeing the television film Wildflower, Spielberg hired Kamiński to shoot Class of '61, a television film in which Spielberg served as Producer.
Kamiński was married to Actress Holly Hunter from 1995 until 2001. He married ABC reporter Rebecca Rankin in 2004. They divorced in 2010.
Kamiński was born in Ziębice, Poland, the son of mother, Jadwiga Celner, and father, Marian Kaminski. He emigrated at the age of 21—after Prime Minister Jaruzelski imposed martial law in 1981—to the United States.
