Conrad Hall Quotes

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

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.

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

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

But at heart, I am more than a cinematographer.

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

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

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.

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

To me, the camera is like a musical instrument. You use it to control the flow, shape, size and colors of images.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

You have to understand the nature of light.

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

Photography is a very important part of my life.

In Hollywood, maybe only ten percent will make it and the other ninety percent try. This elusive dream of making it and being on top is the same story as the moth being drawn to the flame. The flame and it's attractiveness is something you'll never eliminate. Some will learn how to live in that environment and others will burn in it.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

Contrast is what makes photography interesting.

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

Painting and writing are solitary arts.

In aptitude tests, I scored highest in music.

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

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