Cinematography

Hi Folks,

It has been a while since I last posted anything. Thankfully, I've been filming!

I recently shot a film set on a farm, where all the action takes place over the course of a single day. All the locations were exterior, with the only cover being a small barn with three outward-facing stalls and a tin roof overhang.

The director and I both agreed that the subject matter called for a dark, forboding look, so, while my color temp was set to 5600K, I leaned into the barnwood and used F22c 2x2 panel lights at 3200 to warm up the interior of each stall and an Aputure LS 600 Pro and an Aputure 300c, both set to 3200 for my fill, allowing the sun and a few reflectors to do the rest.

This small setup allowed us to move quickly, without the need for a generator, get the most color from the barnwood, and amplify the warmness of the skin tones.

This was such a fun shoot because we weren't limited by long setup times. The F22c's stayed put in the stalls, and I moved the other lights and reflectors to taste. Most of the time spent between setups involved blocking and resetting the 20' of track we had on hand.

Check out this moody little screenshot from one of the film's most confrontational moments, and let me know which lights you go to for quick but powerful setups.

Keep filming!

Something I do not hear discussed enough in cinematography circles is the value of still photography as a foundational practice -- not as a hobby, but as a deliberate tool for developing your eye.

Moving image work can mask a lot of weaknesses. The camera is always moving, the edit covers gaps, and the sound carries the audience through moments that might not be visually strong on their own. Still photography strips all of that away. You have one frame to make something work. The light either does something or it does not. The composition either holds or it falls apart. There is nowhere to hide.

That discipline transfers directly to cinematography. Learning to read light through a still camera -- how it wraps, how it falls off, what it does to a face at different angles -- builds an instinct that is hard to develop any other way. Composition becomes second nature. You start to see frames before you build them.

The DPs I most admire tend to have broad visual educations. They study painting, photography, and architecture. They are not just film people -- they are visual people who happened to end up in film.

For anyone early in their cinematography journey, spending serious time with a still camera is one of the highest-return investments you can make. Not to build a photography portfolio, but to train your eye before you ever step behind a movie camera.

Did still photography shape the way you see? And for those earlier in their careers -- is it part of your practice?

Japanese cinematographer Akiko Ashizawa received the Pierre Angénieux Tribute at the 79th Cannes Film Festival on May 22nd — becoming only the second woman and the first Japanese cinematographer to receive the lifetime achievement honor in its thirteen-year history. With over 70 feature film credits spanning more than three decades, Ashizawa built her career through the traditional Japanese apprenticeship system at a time when women were almost entirely absent from the camera department. She found her way in through a single mentor who saw her potential — and went on to shape some of the most visually distinctive films in contemporary Japanese cinema.

Ashizawa is best known for her long creative partnership with director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, whose atmospheric and unsettling films found their visual language through her mastery of natural light, restrained composition, and a quiet sense of psychological unease that operates beneath the surface of every frame. Their collaborations include TOKYO SONATA, winner of the Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2008, and JOURNEY TO THE SHORE, which took the section's directing prize in 2015. She also received the Mainichi Film Award for Best Cinematography for CHRONICLE OF MY MOTHER, and in recent years has expanded her work internationally through collaborations with Indonesian director Edwin, whose VENGEANCE IS MINE, ALL OTHERS PAY CASH won the Golden Leopard at Locarno 2021.

At 75, Ashizawa continues to work and evolve — shooting in the snowy mountains of Hokkaido, the jungles of Indonesia, and the islands of the Philippines — testing cameras with bell peppers purchased at local markets and pushing digital sensors beyond their recommended limits in pursuit of the image she hears in her head before any lens is mounted. The Pierre Angénieux Tribute is a recognition not just of a career but of a philosophy: that technique exists entirely in service of feeling, and that the job of a cinematographer is to translate a story into an emotional experience that logic alone cannot explain.

Which of Akiko Ashizawa's films have you seen — and which one are you adding to your watchlist?

here's the TL;DR:

Great AFC interview with cinematographer Tudor Vladimir Panduru, RSC, on his work with Cristian Mungiu on Fjord. One thing that stood out to me is how deliberately restrained the cinematography is: long wide shots, observational distance, natural light, warm interiors against cold Norwegian exteriors, and framing that refuses to “tell” the audience what to feel. I guess that doesn't necessarily mean it refuses to MAKE people feel... just tries to stay out of the 'what' - look forward to seeing what that means once the movie is available.

Also pretty cool is how Panduru talks about building the visual language from the reality of the location itself rather than from cinematic references — especially the houses, windows, doors, fjord landscape, snow, water, and the physical proximity between families. The camera stays human but nonjudgmental, often working in long takes where the cinematographer has to support performance rather than control every inch of the image.

A few craft highlights: Arri Alexa 35, Master Anamorphics, naturalistic lighting, careful highlight retention for HDR/SDR delivery, and a warm/cool split-tone LUT designed around the Norwegian environment. Also some fascinating practical problem-solving: avalanches, ferries, limited daylight, courtroom reflections, and even staging a “walking on water” shot with a submerged platform!

I am not a cinematographer - so this article was a reminder of how important each artist's contribution is to the script, to the director's vision, to the producer's requirements and concerns.

Full article here (in French, but Google translate to the rescue!):

https://www.afcinema.com/Tudor-Vladimir-Panduru-RSC-parle-de-son-travail...

Hey all,

I was at a cinema gear expo for filmmakers today and met an Oscar winner!!!

If you can guess who this guy is, you're gonna be alright with me.

Answers???

Since 1951, Cannes has formally recognized the craft of cinematography through what is now known as the CST Award for Best Artist-Technician, honoring the technical and visual achievements of directors of photography working within the Official Selection. That tradition deepened in 2013 with the launch of the Pierre Angénieux Excellens in Cinematography, an annual lifetime achievement tribute that has since celebrated some of the most influential lenses in world cinema — from Roger Deakins and Bruno Delbonnel to Barry Ackroyd and Darius Khondji. Together, these two honors have cemented Cannes as the festival most serious about treating the cinematographer not as a craftsperson in service of the director, but as a co-author of the work itself.

This year's competition arrives with a striking visual identity. Seven of the Palme d'Or contenders were shot on Kodak film — twelve of the twenty on-film productions screening across the festival were captured on 35mm — a clear signal that the conversation about analog versus digital has decisively shifted back toward the physical. The jury itself adds another layer of visual weight: with Park Chan-wook presiding and Chloé Zhao among the jurors, two filmmakers defined by their exceptional command of image-making will be evaluating not just story, but how it is seen.

Among the cinematographers to watch, several collaborations stand out. László Nemes returns with Moulin Shot on 35 mm film by Nemes’ frequent collaborator, cinematographer Mátyás Erdély His immersive, kinetic camera language made Son of Saul one of the most viscerally original films of the last decade. Cinematographer Łukasz Żal’s brings his signature monochromatic precision to Fatherland. And the 2026 Pierre Angénieux honoree, Akiko Ashizawa, will receive the festival's highest cinematographic recognition, the second woman cinematographer to receive the tribute — adding a new name to a lineage that represents the gold standard of the craft. For anyone who cares about the relationship between light, lens, and story, Cannes 2026 is essential viewing.

We want to hear from you — what are you most excited to see at Cannes 2026 when it comes to cinematography? Is it the resurgence of film stocks on the Palme d'Or shortlist, a specific director of photography's work, or the vision of a jury led by Park Chan-wook? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.