Cinematography
I always get there a little early, to look at the light before anyone asks me anything. That’s where the shot comes from, not from a storyboard.
An event happens only once. What is left afterwards is whatever someone managed to take away from it: an image, a sound, the look on a person’s face while it was happening. That is what my work is — not documenting, but keeping alive the feeling of having been there. When it really works, someone watching months later doesn’t think nice video. They think I remember this.
01
Looking comes first
Before switching anything on, I sit down with whoever is carrying the project in their head. We bring images, film stills, things seen around that look unrelated and turn out to matter most. We put them on the table, move them around, throw half of them away. What is left is the tone of the project: from there on, every choice has a direction.
02
The shot exists before the scene does
By the time I get to the location I have already seen most of the shots. Not because everything is decided, but because I have spent days imagining where the light will fall, where I will stand, what I want people to notice first. Then reality changes the cards, and that’s fine: if you know what you are looking for, you recognise it even when it arrives early.
03
Colour is where the memory forms
Grading is not a filter laid on top at the end. It is the moment I decide what the viewer should feel: whether a scene should carry the warmth of a home or the crispness of an autumn sky. I work on every image until it stops being a well-exposed photo and becomes a memory. That is the difference between looking at a shot and recognising it.
