When does Cinematography Knowledge "stop" ?
Hello peeps,
I have a question that I keep coming back to when it comes to improving/learning more as a cinematographer.
When do you ever truly "master" the craft?
For context, I am someone who believes that you never stop learning anything in life. I believe also that being a cinematographer happens in a thousand different ways for anyone willing to embrace the journey.
Before I started doing camera work, I spent time (and still do) working as a gaffer so the change from being well versed and understanding lighting equipment and electricity to creating an actual image threw me a bit into a spiral.
My question arises from that moment where you understand and know about all of the so-called basics, which will help achieve a limited amount of things imo, because then comes more difficult processes as in problem-solving, finding solutions, and understanding better how to effectively do storytelling through cinematography.
So after all that, getting to firmly know your technical knowledge and inside outs of cameras, codecs, lighting, etc.
Where do you seek out for when you want to learn more when not shooting? I am aware experience beats anything else but without more knowledge I find that the process could become repetitive maybe?
I am aware of cinematography books and studying specific directors'/cinematographer's works could help out but when does it stop being a copy of their work/techniques? Also I get that cinematography dives a lot into creative processes and innovating so it could be very subjective asking this.
I am not trying to diminish the craft. I am aware that it involves a lot of hard work and having a sharp eye for things so I would like to understand better how others feel about this question and would really like to hear others opinions or experiences.
Thanks a lot for reading