Recent fascination has turned towards photography with a cinematic touch-images that appear to be movie stills. First, I was working on submitting some of my more dramatic images to a forum. Lately, I’ve been tapped to work on a new project, “…goes to the movies,” which involves creating (or re-creating) still shots from films.
I’ve enjoyed photography for a long time, and frequently shy away from assignments I feel are too “easy,” preferring instead to challenge myself-to sort of flex my “visual muscles” if you will-working instead on things I consider more difficult: motion blur, soft focus, night shots, and the like. It’s just who I am and where I’m at right now as an artist. (I’ve done my share of “easy,” believe me. I’m just not “there” right now, that’s all.)
Perhaps I’m drawn to this latest dramatic assignment because, well, I can’t quite put my finger on what makes an image cinematic (and, I suppose, in turn, dramatic really, since all cinematic images are somewhat dramatic in a sense.)
Is it the lighting? Is it the landscape orientation? Is it a sense of motion? What is it, specifically, that makes a still photograph look like it came from a movie rather than a gallery wall? Maybe it’s a combination of orientation, lighting, distance from and choice of subject matter?
I kind of think that this image looks rather cinematic, although that feeling comes more from a mood, situation, scenario, rather than anything technically specific about this image. (If pressed, I would say that this looks a bit like a still from an old western movie.)
That doesn’t make it dramatic really, just maybe looking a bit like it fits in with other “western-y” types of shots. If you have any strong thoughts about this, either way, please do email me or post a comment.
I’ll ponder this question some more as I try to get all dramatic on you.
Until next pony…
