“Cinematic”. Meaningless, overused, attempt to add profoundness to stills. Can’t journalists refrain from equating the two media. Still photography stands alone. As Bresson once said . “Photography sits somewhere between film and painting”. Equating it with moving pictures or painting only diminishes its own strengths, and cheapens it’s uniqueness..
Michael, I get where you’re coming from — “cinematic” has become a catch-all word that’s often used lazily. At the same time, I think many people reach for it not to diminish photography, but because they’re trying to describe a certain feeling: mood, atmosphere, storytelling, or even just the color palette and light that reminds them of how films look.
Bresson’s line is a great reminder that photography deserves to stand on its own. But perhaps the conversation isn’t about equating photography with cinema — it’s about how visual languages influence one another. Just like painting informed photography, and photography influenced film, borrowing words across these mediums can sometimes help describe what we’re seeing or feeling in a photograph.
Maybe the real challenge is not banning a word like “cinematic,” but using it more carefully — asking ourselves what we actually mean when we say it.
“Cinematic”. Meaningless, overused, attempt to add profoundness to stills. Can’t journalists refrain from equating the two media. Still photography stands alone. As Bresson once said . “Photography sits somewhere between film and painting”. Equating it with moving pictures or painting only diminishes its own strengths, and cheapens it’s uniqueness..
Michael, I get where you’re coming from — “cinematic” has become a catch-all word that’s often used lazily. At the same time, I think many people reach for it not to diminish photography, but because they’re trying to describe a certain feeling: mood, atmosphere, storytelling, or even just the color palette and light that reminds them of how films look.
Bresson’s line is a great reminder that photography deserves to stand on its own. But perhaps the conversation isn’t about equating photography with cinema — it’s about how visual languages influence one another. Just like painting informed photography, and photography influenced film, borrowing words across these mediums can sometimes help describe what we’re seeing or feeling in a photograph.
Maybe the real challenge is not banning a word like “cinematic,” but using it more carefully — asking ourselves what we actually mean when we say it.
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