The Dying Fall + J. Cardiff II
Jack Cardiff 
Still image from “A Matter of Life and Death”, a film directed by Michael Powell.
Each of the Powell films presented their own special challenges. The action of A Matter of Life and Death is divided between Heaven and Earth and required both black and white and colour scenes. Cardiff assumed Heaven would be in colour, but to confound audience assumptions Powell opted for a black and white Heaven and a colour Earth. (Jack Cardiff :Source of Light – Senses of Cinema)
Start with Black Narcissus from 1947, it’s an absolutely gorgeous gem with lighting and color design inspired by Vermeer. (Horsese Think Obit)
Previous post Jack Cardiff: Magic on Screen
Tower 
of Pisa
You can read J. G. Ballad’s last story ‘The Dying Fall” (Guardian)
Three years have passed since the collapse of the Tower of Pisa, but only now can I accept the crucial role that I played in the destruction of this unique landmark. Over twenty tourists died as the thousands of tons of marble lost their grasp on the air and collapsed to the ground. Among them was my wife Elaine, who had climbed to the topmost tier and was looking down at me when the first visible crack appeared in the tower’s base. Never were tragedy and triumph so intimately joined, as if Elaine’s pride in braving the worn and slippery stairs had been punished by the unseen forces that had sustained this unbalanced mass of masonry for so many centuries……
Previous post J.G Ballad here.