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

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

You are always a student, never a master. You have to keep moving forward.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

Contrast is what makes photography interesting.

But at heart, I am more than a cinematographer.

To make a change, you must be: willing to commit, willing to change, willing to have an open mind, and willing to take action!

His words back thenstill press down my throat with happiness and sorrow.

We leave such a trail of bodies through our teens and twenties that it's hard to tell which one is us. How many versions do we abandon over the years

Mediocre men wait for opportunity to come to them. Strong able alert men go after opportunity.

You know what a fan letter is - it's just an inky raspberry.

My mom really instilled in me this idea that parents are not perfect and they make mistakes.

To get an Oscar would be an incredible moment in my career, there is no doubt about that. But the Lord of the Rings films are not made for Oscars, they are made for the audience.

Every citizen, scientists included, has some obligation to be involved in public affairs and politics.

America is a nation created by all the hopeful wanderers of Europe, not out of geography and genetics, but out of purpose.

Every pessimist who ever lived has been buried in an unmarked grave. Tomorrow has always been better than today, and it always will be.