Light invites an epic scale of imagination. Focusing on the thought and work of a contemporary Indian cameraman, this article explores experience of light in cinema. I examine practical struggles to engage light’s movement and potency, in relation to cinematographic problems of composition, effect, and aesthetics. Relying most closely on ethnographic fieldwork with a studio set constructed for a 2010 Tamil feature film, the article devotes sustained attention to the interplay between luminescent philosophy and practice—to interrelated forms of thinking and working with light.
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