I love to draw influences from other photographers, but lately I have been watching films. I have been watching movies with a more critical eye. I closely watch 5 or more movies a week to develop my range. Directors have there own styles with the use color, mood and perceptive. I have been studying Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, De Palma, Tim Burton, Tony Scott (amazing use of film stock, cross processing and camera work)and of course Clint Eastwood. Do film’s form popular culture or just reflect it? I feel for the most part they shape it. Clint Eastwood’s dirty Harry movies changed our language. You have to give Eastwood his due he evolved from Spaghetti Westerns to Harry Callahan to the director of “Million Dollar Baby” and “Flags of our Fathers” and so many more. He is arguably the most accomplished movie maker of the last 15 years. Scorsese is interesting to me. Throughout his career one only has to look at his work from “Mean Streets” to “Gangs of New York” have a lighting style and saturation of his own. His slightly red bias is critical to his films. He has influenced my color palette. De Palma work is hard for me to look at. “The Black Dahlia” is filmed with a hue that sickens me. Maybe that is the intent. I do not choose to be influenced by his style, but to each his own. Quentin Tarantino is so good in his use of movement and he certainly draws influences from many directors. But a Tarantino movie is unmistakable. They are stylized, powerful and some times silly. The classic black and white movies perfect use of light and shadow speak for themselfs. My point is I want to take the best influences and incorporate them into a style that is my own. That is my challenge and I owe it to my customers.