Cinematic Influences

This is a response to those who ask about the influences in my photography, being self taught there are many conscious and unconscious including music, literature, storytelling and art far too many to list here on this blog. I’m sure it surprizes a few that fellow photographers aren’t high on my list but I’ll come back to that at a later date as here I want to show some of the more cinematic influences for me.


It’s the opposite to jump cuts and commercial its more about poetics and emotion, and like friends who have told me similar to Donald Trump etc they don’t do subtitles, similarly with black and white or silent they just don’t get it. 

So if your still here you will be rewarded with different endings, something to think about for a while and a visual feast. If that doesn’t suit one of my favourite responses is from the Turkish conductor on the 14hr train journey Istanbul to Thessalonica who when people complained he instructed “Go back to sleep!” 


But if you’re ready here are my top 20 Movie Directors who have influenced my photography …


Carl Dreyer/ Faces

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVFcOb9VcAY


Andrei Tarkovsky /Colour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CZk0CusOHQ


Yasujirō Ozu /Low Angle Interiors

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G7oeyOsfSg&list=PLLPW1lqWBLKfEFCeoAu6TSRf7fiJbjCUZ


Krzysztof Kieślowski /Colour Washes

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1iAPZrS6x8


Béla Tarr /Black & White Long Shots & Weather 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1CNNf9iU9Y&t=34s


Paweł Pawlikowsk /Black & White

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF5uxtWIlag


Roman Polanski /Interior Angles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PrGoL_Wlcc


Michelangelo Antonioni /Architecture & Saturation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQx6MAsRyOk


Leos Carax /Grand Staging

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWu9WjEcdbk


Wim Wenders /Location & Placing 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sEUdeQBez4


Pedro Almodovar/Colour & Interiors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A49SyoX3B14


Christopher Doyle in Wong Kar-Wai /Master of Saturation and Angles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MhP1PekkFo


Nuri Bilge Ceylan /Subtle Washes & Locations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJcDmc2VIOc


Pier Paolo Pasolini/ Street & Angles 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEs4g9A9HGc


Federico Fellini /Faces & Theatrical 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApUl-oilrN4


Theo Angelopoulos /Place & Time 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFFD2oDQsC8


Wes Anderson /Interiors and Still life 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcPk2p0Zaw4&t=31s


David Lynch /The Subconscious 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCUX4GIv-WI


David Lean /Space and Place  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTv6jqKUNz8&t=357s


Stanley Kubrick /Expanse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HazR58qlcyo


Thanks to the contributors, my opinions are personal and I welcome any responses.



Using Format