Tarik Nathan

Thanks guys for the great advice. I thought about film school, but I did the college thing already and don't want to add to student debt. I would rather spend that on gear and the occasional workshops. I do subscribe to AC Mag and frequent some prominent DP blogs. I think what I feel like I'm lacking is real on set experience as well. Matt I really like your suggestion of trying to get in with a good gaffer. Any suggestions for the least creepy way to approach this?

I was wondering how does one transition from the learning phases of practicing lighting scenes with what you can afford ( basic tungstens, DIY Grip gear, consumer bulbs and other stuff) to being able to plan scenes confidently without those limitations. Do you know that your daylight gymnasium scene will need 12k HMI's to get those shafts of light the way you want because of 1st hand experience? deferring to a gaffer? educated guess? photometric calculations? The same question would also apply to camera packages. Do you ever recommend to a director a camera package you haven't used before? what was the basis of that decision?