"As photography and film are so intrinsically linked, it is very difficult for practitioners of either medium not to be influenced by both forms of the Lens Arts. Growing up with the routine of going to the theatre every Saturday afternoon, as well as the advent of TV in the home—with late-night movies being a Friday and Saturday night ritual—I can safely say that I have experienced nearly the entire history of filmmaking up to the 1990s. All of that viewing has influenced me and inevitably drove me to the camera.

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The first film I ever saw at the age of four was the classic The Red Shoes by Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell. Although I didn’t understand it fully, I remembered the multiple layers of imagery, movement, dance, and so on. It bored me and excited me at the same time. I mention this film because it clearly sparked my ongoing visual attention. However, if I were to list three or so films that wowed me as an adult, I must, like many of your respondents, mention celebrated big productions that are undeniably significant. They are as follows: Citizen Kane, La Dolce Vita, Blow-Up, and, as a fourth, Lawrence of Arabia. One cannot argue about their significance in film history and criticism, and no knowledgeable person would question the cinematic uniqueness of each.

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When compiling this list, I realised they have another important element in common that impacted me as a real-world witness photographer. Each story is framed by a reporter investigating the lives of others. This so-called objective viewer takes the audience back in time, space, and action, which must be deconstructed to understand the historical or cultural significance of the story and the storyteller. As a photographer, I photographed with the hope that in the body of work, the audience is able to find that which they didn't see or maybe not previously understand - a significant marker in their everyday passing." – Charles H Traub