Insta BTS: Mahesh Muthuswami

Looking back , from the initial days of film making , the openness with which Cinematographers’ share their knowledge and the process of creating something new in their film to

fellow cinematographers , is amazing.

There is a celebration of each other’s work and a respect. It may be because , we all realise how difficult the job is, and we all sort of have a love for making an image in the best possible way. This is what keeps the camaraderie amongst the fraternity of Cinematographers so strong.

is atleast 100 years old ; and so is the American Cinematographer magazine , focusing on the art and craft of cinematography.

When one was an assistant cinematographer – to get hold and own a copy of the magazine , was a very expensive propositon. As such , subscribing to it regularly every month was only a dream.

The next best alternative was to buy it cheap ,from the oldbook shop sellers ; it will be sold for less than 1/10 th of its actual price.

The Sridevi Book Sellers , near Bata Showroom at the Casino Junction on Mount Road , Chennai , was one such shop we used to frequent. If one is lucky , one can even get even a month’s old magazine there. Hard to believe. Frequent visits are very important , so that , not to miss out any latest magazine copies which keep cropping up there. I clearly remember me hanging around quite often there.

To lay hands on the magazine and to peer over through all the detailed interviews , discussions and lighting setup diagrams … oh god …it was so exhilarating !! Lot of insights .

Be it about testing a new film stock or new cameras or filters or lights

Every single page and single line was devourable !!One feels confident to try and embrace new technology and technique.

Gone are those days ; And that shop too is nonexistent now.

Circa 2019 : social media is all pervading & storms into every aspect of our life.

The way information about practice of Cinematography , is published ; the way in which we know about all those behind the scenes , also changed. Its all very democratic now. Albeit , without spending even a rupee. And always at your beck and call.

Yes : Twitter , Facebook , Youtube & ofcourse Instagram.

I’m kinda practically more fond of , Instagram May be coz , (inspite of its current avatar) it started of essentially as an image sharing app , with an image first then publish a post.

Now , the amount of information published here on practice of Cinematography , the breadth, the width and the depth of it is just amazing & mind boggling. Sometimes, even live events .

Instagram , has a mix of some extremely finely and carefully

curated threads, and at the other end of spectrum , some very plain & ordinary handles , like someone’s visual dairies of their day to day study But if one is smart enough to navigate around the cluCer , lot of gold is out there …Let me list out some of these finely curated threads.

@mr.cinematography

@behindthescenegram

@griprigs

@Fillmcrewmagazine

@american_cinematographer

@the_asc ( see the stories section for interesting Q & A )

@fillmlights

@fillmba.se

@bscine

@fillmmakersworld

@jayholben

@shanehurlbutasc

@film_grab

@cameramayhem

@camera_setups

@vfx.guru

@movies.effects

@movie.effects.vfx

But the most disrupting factor, is #hashtags .#hashtags are very powerful. But there is no chance of confusion. Its one’s own personal journey into the huge volume of handles or posts in a hashtag. They just open up an ocean of information. Millions of them. Some of the popular hashtags are :

#productionlife #directorofphotography

#filmlife

#cinematography

#griplife

#gafferlife

#cinelens

#shotdesign

#setlife

#filmmaking

These are really , just the tip of the iceberg. Lot more to sail through.

We can enjoy the camaraderie, the exchange of knowledge,the shared quest for beauty, the hard-earned wisdom, and the passion of fellow cinematographers. We feel blessed to have learned so much from them about the art of cinematography

photographs , travelling with the production crew , throughout the shoot.