   ![](http://alifesworkmovie.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/tango_059-150x150.jpg ""Don't you want to make a REAL film?"")  |
David Licata | April 26, 2012
We all need some kind of reassurance from time to time. One of the things I need it for is my skill as a cinematographer. So on my corkboard is a print out of an email from Andy Bowley, a very fine cinematographer who shot much of A Life’s Work. Thank you, Andy. Your email [...]
David Licata | January 17, 2012
On Christmas Eve, a friend posted a Facebook status about her home’s plumbing catastrophe We had a little exchange about it, including what she had to pay the plumber to take care of the problem. I don’t know how long the plumber was there, but let’s just say he had a nice Christmas bonus. “I [...]
David Licata | January 3, 2012
There I was, sitting on the downtown D train, completely transfixed by Steve Reich’s “Electric Guitar Phase,” when a man walked toward me handing out fliers. I caught a glimpse of one and had to take one. This may look familiar if you happened to read a post in July 2011, Why Is This Pinned [...]
David Licata | September 16, 2011
It’s 1983 and I’m a junior at Hunter College. I’m an English major but I decide to take an introduction to studio art class. The first third of the semester I study sculpture, the second third drawing, the final third film. Each third had its own teacher. Perhaps you’re thinking, “Ah! This is where the [...]
David Licata | July 29, 2011
I found this on the seat of a subway car many, many, MANY years ago. To coin a phrase, “It spoke to me.” Why is it pinned to my corkboard? From time to time I need to be reminded.
David Licata | June 3, 2011
I came across this excellent blog post, Developing Your Creative Practice: Tips from Brian Eno by Scott McDowell. There’s a nice paragraph about a tool Mr. Eno uses: Oblique Strategies cards, a series of prompts modeled after the I Ching to disrupt the process and encourage a new way of encountering a creative problem. On [...]
David Licata | May 6, 2011
Here’s a piece of amber. I keep it in a little, clear plastic ziploc bag and that bag is tacked to my corkboard. Why is it there? I’m not sure, exactly. It reminds me of time, I suppose. And it reminds me of time captured (there is a little fleck of something in the amber), [...]
David Licata | January 11, 2011
This clipping is from The New York Times Magazine, July 9, 1995. It was in the “Questions For” section, which was newish then and given significantly less ink than it gets today. In this column the questions were for choreographer Mark Morris. Q: What qualities are most important in a choreographer? A: Imagination and knowing [...]
David Licata | November 11, 2010
Cinematographers travel with a lot of equipment, and it all looks scary when viewed through an airport x-ray machine. That’s why every time they fly somewhere and unpack the gear bag that’s been checked, they’ll pull out one of these: I don’t consider myself a cinematographer, though I’ve done a fair amount of shooting for [...]
