Which Artists Have Influenced Your Cinematography?

[Nguyen MInh Phuc]

I just finished reading Reflections by Sir Roger Deakins, and one thing I found particularly fascinating was learning about the artists who influenced his visual thinking: William Blake, Giorgio de Chirico, Edvard Munch, Francis Bacon, Toulouse-Lautrec, as well as photographers such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Walker Evans, Brassaï, Bill Brandt, Jacques Henri Lartigue, André Kertész, Dorothea Lange, and others.

It got me thinking about the artists behind the cinematographers.

For the cinematographers and filmmakers here: which painters, photographers, or visual artists have had the biggest influence on your work, your visual taste, or the way you approach light, color, composition, and storytelling?

I'd particularly love to hear from some of the more experienced cinematographers and filmmakers who have been part of this community for years @David Mullen ASC, @Jarin Blaschke, and the many other DPs here whose work I've admired. But I'm equally interested in hearing from anyone who has found a particular artist that changed the way they see images.

It doesn't have to be someone universally regarded as a "great." It could be a relatively obscure painter, a photographer, an illustrator, a particular painting, or even a single image that stayed with you and somehow found its way into your filmmaking.

Who are the artists you keep coming back to, and what have you taken from their work into your own cinematography or filmmaking?

Thank you for sharing!

[Dave Beling]

Among many Henri Alekan comes first to mind.

[Brandon Paterno]

edward hopper

[Tyler Purcell]

Older Deakins work, from the 90's during the photochemical days, I'd say that influenced me the most. 

Elswit's work for sure; Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, the very optical path 90's look that looks slightly under lit, without the big source feeling. 

Wally Pfister and Hoyte from Christopher Nolan's movies, really fantastic DP's that I really admire greatly. 

I like modern DP's more than anyone else because I feel the trade has changed over the years as new tools have come out and I really like to see how modern DP's make a more classical look with newer tools. 

[Vital Butinar]

For me the most influence of the look of the film has been by Tony Scott. 

From the first time I saw Top Gun and those backlight silhouettes to the frame and shitter tricks done on Unstoppable that I actually used in shooting of a music video. 

On the other hand the Ridley Scott's Blade Runner had a huge influence on my as far as the lights and neon signs go. Still haven't been able to do that yet.

[David Mullen ASC]

Cinematography influences: Geoffrey Unsworth (Cabaret, Superman, 2001, A Bridge Too Far), David Watkin (Three Musketeers, Jesus of Nazareth, Our of Africa), Vittorio Storaro (Reds, Agatha, Ladyhawke, The Conformist), Conrad Hall (Road to Perdition, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Day of the Locusts), Jack Cardiff (Black Narcissus), Ossie Morris (Moulin Rouge, Taming of the Shrew), Robert Richardson (JFK), Jordan Cronenweth (Blade Runner, Altered States, Peggy Sue Got Married), Allen Daviau (Empire of the Sun, Avalon), Vilmos Zsigmond (Close Encounters, Sugarland Express, Heaven's Gate), Roger Deakins (No Country for Old Men, Mountains of the Moon, Skyfall), Gregg Toland (Citizen Kane, Ball of Fire, Best Years of Our Lives), Arthur Miller (How Green Was My Valley), Leon Shamroy (Cleopatra, Leave Her to Heaven, Forever Amber), Gabriel Figueroa (The Fugitive)... this is off the top of my head so I'm probably missing someone.

Photography influences: Saul Leiter, Jay Maisel, Harry Gruyaert, Yousaf Karsh, Irving Penn, Fred Herzog, Vivian Maier, Sally Mann

Painting influences: Edvard Munch, Edward Hopper, Andrew Wyeth, Rembrandt, Vermeer, John Singer Sargent, Van Gogh

[Mark Wiggins]

Dougie Slocombe, Jack Cardiff, John Alton.