Sometimes it’s not how much light you use to get an effect, it’s how_x000D_ little you use and still make it work. There are a lot of rules to be_x000D_ broken in photography, and you’ve got to have courage.
James Wong HoweRead
I believe that the best cameraman is one who recognizes the source, the story, as the basis of his work.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The best cameramen prioritize the story behind the image they capture.
James Wong Howe emphasizes the importance of storytelling in the art of cinematography. He suggests that a great cameraman should not only focus on technical skills but should also deeply understand the narrative and emotions that a scene conveys, making the story the foundation of their work.
Themes
CameramanStorytellingCinematographyArtSource
In practice
Example use cases
In a workshop on cinematography, you could use this quote to inspire budding filmmakers to focus on the narratives they wish to convey.
More from James Wong Howe
All quotes →Similar quotes
I had grown up as an Irish poet in a country where the distance between vision and imagination was not quite as wide as in some other countries.
Eavan BolandRead
When you work on something that combines both the spectacular and the relatable, the hyperreal and the real, it suddenly can become supernatural. The hypothetical and the theoretical can become literal.
J. J. AbramsRead
Why, I just shake the buildings out of my sleeves.
Frank Lloyd WrightRead
Writers do not live one life, they live two. There is the living and then there is the writing. There is the second tasting, the delayed reaction.
Anais NinRead
Then about 12 years ago it dawned on me that folk music - the music of Woody Guthrie and Phil Ochs, early Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Pete Seeger - could be as heavy as anything that comes through a Marshall stack. The combination of three chords and the right lyrical couplet can be as heavy as anything in the Metallica catalogue.
Tom MorelloRead
From the outside, being an artist seems like a dream life, but there are much darker aspects to it.
Jean Michel JarreRead