I enjoy writing about movies in this space. I think I do a decent job of explaining why certain films and filmmakers are inspired and why others fall short. One way or another, I’ve been trying to wrap my head around film as an art form, actively engaging the works I see with creative, analytical thinking, for more than twenty years. I’m no trailblazer, but I get by. And then sometimes I’m reminded just how much I don’t know.

We have a good friend who’s a much braver soul than I, and she has spent the past two Januarys volunteering at the Sundance Film Festival. She kindly thinks of the residents of our household while there and bestows upon us a care package of festival swag after her time served is complete. This year, it included a couple issues of ICG Magazine, a publication of the International Cinematographers Guild. Tucked casually into the last few paragraphs of an article about the ABC series Modern Family is this reflection by James Bagdonas, the program’s Director of Photography:

“I know I can rate the camera at 500 or more if I need to and still have a clean image,” Bagdonas imparts. “I also use the tungsten setting at all times (adding an 85 filter for exteriors) that provides a cleaner look that the daylight setting. I try to light a T-4 whenever possible, because we’re constantly going from a 24mm to a 275mm in the same shot, and the T-4 at least gives the first ACs (Toby Tucker and Keith Davis) a fighting chance at pulling focus.

That’s such a foreign cascade of words that I may as well have mashed my hand into my keyboard and tried reading the result. I don’t feel guilty or necessarily feel like I should be able to understand that to appreciate the resulting work (or even to be able to say with certainty that Modern Family is a beautifully shot show), but it is a handy, humbling reminder that, even on a topic I know well, there’s always plenty I don’t know and plenty more to learn.