Manipulating shadows and tonality is like writing music or a poem.

Every cinematographer I worked with had his own way of solving problems.

I knew exactly how I wanted it to play, but you are never sure until you watch the projected images reflect off the screen. That's when you know it worked.

But you know you haven't done it all because you know everything keeps evolving and changing; and you know you can evolve with it if you grow and develop as a human being.

There are infinite shadings of light and shadows and colors... it's an extraordinarily subtle language. Figuring out how to speak that language is a lifetime job.

I want to tell a story and shape it all the way through to the end.

I don't think of myself as a director or writer. I think of myself as a filmmaker.

There are a lot of directors who are knowledgeable about images, and others who aren't.

Billions of people have seen and been influenced by movies in the short history of this industry.

I realize that every picture isn't a work of art.

I suppose I would still be a communicator, maybe a musician.

You are always a student, never a master. You have to keep moving forward.

Photography is a very important part of my life.

I was very happy sitting alone at a dining room table, writing a script.

My first semester, I got a D in creative writing.

Manipulating shadows and tonality is like writing music or a poem.

Painting and writing are solitary arts.

With today's fast films, you can light the way your eye sees the scene. You can abuse the film and create subtleties in contrast with light and exposure, diffusion and filters. That's what makes it an art.

Contrast is what makes photography interesting.

The closer the source of light is to a subject, the broader the beams are.

It is also difficult to articulate the subtleties in cinema, because there aren't words or metaphors which describe many of the emotions you are attempting to evoke.

You have to understand the nature of light.

Every once in a while, when the audience is expecting to see one thing, you have to show them something else.

But at heart, I am more than a cinematographer.

I saw Tequila Sunrise as a romantic picture with complex, bigger than life characters.

There is a kind of beauty in imperfection.

The sun is the most parallel light source because it is so far away.

I think one of the reasons people quit is because they're afraid they won't be able to get better and better; that they have to come to a zenith of some kind.

It took a while for me to grasp that my colleagues believe I have made an impact on the history of cinema.

I hope I'm still shooting when I'm 80.

It was 100 feet of 16 mm black-and-white film of a car coming to a stop sign, and driving off. I had to decide how to frame and light it. It was magic. There was a sense of mystery.

Cinematography is infinite in its possibilities... much more so than music or language.

In aptitude tests, I scored highest in music.

That's why I like fast film. It gives you more freedom to light more naturally.

My peers say I have made a difference. That means more to me than winning an Oscar.

It's important to know that if you are dealing with shadows.

I can still recall the thrill of shooting my first film.

Dad, wherever you are, you are gone but you will never be forgotten.

The audience has to understand that if the film is going to have any meaning for them. If they are going to empathize with the characters, they have to visualize the process of concentration involved in making every move.

There is a kind of beauty in imperfection

When you use music to worship you are not attempting to entertain.

Pop music, disco music, and heavy metal music is about shutting out the tensions of life, putting it away.

When I did the record, I was coming off a time when my contract had been sold and the music industry had changed a lot. I didn't understand how to make records for big labels. I was waiting for a new kind of record label to emerge.

You've got to realize. In the western world, regardless of what color you are, what title the music is, it's all played by the same notes.

Don't make music for some vast, unseen audience or market or ratings share or even for something as tangible as money. Though it's crucial to make a living, that shouldn't be your inspiration. Do it for yourself.

Whether I'm doing music or I'm walking down the street or I'm in a record store buying a record or I walk into a comic store and I'm buying comics or having a drink with my friends, it's the same me.

When rock came along the lyrics and melodies became less important and it bothered me to think that perhaps they might not regain the value they have to music - they are music.

I want to promote poetry to the point where you got all the baldhead kids running around doing poetry, getting the music out of the way and having only words, the spoken word, and then see what happens.

There is no music that can't be used politically, but the motives behind the creation of that music can be non-political.