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Inspired by movies

 Photography is truth. The cinema is truth twenty-four times per second: Jean-Luc Godard
Taking a photograph may need one click on the shutter button, however teaching your eye to see the right perspective requires much more than that

 As Bresson said:

Your first 10000 photographs are your worst: Cartier-Bresson
That is, the more you practise, the more you acquire your own skills set, however sticking to your experience only, may give a narrow view of your own genre of photography.

Therefore, using other resources to boost your skills, it could be learning from photographers, youtube channels dedicated to photography, Photobooks, paintings.... and other arts in form of picture.

What about cinema?

 COLORS

We all watch movies for entairtainement, or to learn a language, to learn acting or film making... furthermore, we can watch a movie and learn how to frame a photo, how to use colors, lighting and much more.

For the following photograph, it's a silhouette in a sunset showing warm colors, after all, you can do some tunning to get the wanted result.

Sunset Casablanca 2019 | wide image
Sunset Casablanca 2019


Sunset walk, Casablanca 2019 | wide image
Sunset walk, Casablanca 2019 


As a reference, I use a frame from the movie Sicario shot by Roger Deakings.

Frame from Sicario | wide image
Sicario movie, DOP Roger Deakings

 COMPOSITION

Frames in cinema can teach you composing your photograph. Directors set well their composition before shooting any scene, by putting all the required elements in their frame set from actors to the decore, thus drawing attention of the audience to your chosen elements in the frame.


Amoung the rules of composition, leading lines.
This rule is used widely in movies in some scenes to show the beginning and the end of the motion, like the following frame in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanely Kubrick.

In this frame, we can see the black rectangles lines leading to the center of this tube, while showing the man in the red suit following those leading lines.


Space Odysee | wide image
Space Odysee


I refer to this technic sometimes when available to take a photograph.

Two people walking through in a market | wide image
Two people walking through in a market

 SIMILAR SCENES 

In each movie you watch, there will always be a stamp in your mind.

Pulp fiction | wide image
Pulp fiction movie, dance scene

I used this reference to take the following shot.
I know it has nothing to do with dancing, but the lady hair cut just reminded me of the actress dancing in the Tarantino movie.
two ladies talking in street [ wide image
Two ladies talking in street

While I was in a Café, I saw this lady with her cigaret and triggered my mind to Malena, an Italian movie starred by Monica Belucci.

Malena movie, smoking scene | wide image
Malena movie, smoking scene 


The scene came up in my mind when I saw this lady when taking a cigarette in her mouth.

lady smoking in café | wide image
lady smoking in café

I know these photographs are not strong enough to imitate the scenes in movies, but it's still street and not a studio or a movie set.

The motive of this is as a photographer, try to change the way you watch movies, watch and analyse, or watch, then rewatch again for inspirational purposes.

To sum up, besides your inner creativity to imagine photographs, being inspired by cinema or any other form of art, will expand your imagination and push your horizon further.

Comments

  1. Many things to improve (test)

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  2. Only just found your blog. Nice to see you are still taking photos. I like this post. 2001 one of my favourites. I still remember as part of the film club at university we showed this film and the projector broke down, the take up reel would not turn so I had to turn the spool to take up the loose film, by hand using my finger to turn it, for the whole movie. You may not remember, I was a fellow PhotoBlog blogger. Gethinthomas.blog

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    Replies
    1. Hello Thomas, thanks a lot for the feedback and sharing your story with film spool :D, of course I still remember you.
      I took a look on your blog, amazing stories as always, I wish we could still have a plateform together, it would be easier.

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