I never know what to expect when I work with a Director of Photography for the first time. There are some who micro-manage to the degree they pick the instruments and tell me exactly where to place them. At the other end of the spectrum are DPs who want me to light the scene. They will tell me what they are looking for and let me light it.
My least favorite jobs are ones where the Director of Photography treats me like a set electrician. Yes, that really happens. I even had DPs that don't even both to address me with directions. They just talk to the nearest electrician even though I am on set. It's amateurish.
It seems like a trend with young DPs. They micro-manage. They have no interest in any creative input from the gaffer. I think it is: part inexperience; part insecurity; and mostly, what/how they are taught in film school.
It's annoying for me. I've worked with many DPs; some famous. The more experience DPs tend to talk in generalities of the look they want. There will be some specifics but they are looking to the gaffer for ideas and options for lighting. It's a collaboration.
Many years ago, I was an electrician working with a well know gaffer on a commercial. To my surprise, the young DP had no interest in any ideas from a great gaffer. He gave very specific instructions like, get this light, put it here; get this light put it here, etc.
I said something to the gaffer about it. To paraphrase, he said, it didn't bother him. He will do what the DP wants even though it wasn't looking good. The DP had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
The best looking shoots I've worked on have been collaborations between the DP and me, the gaffer. My most enjoyable shoot have been the ones where I'm working with the DP collaborating on a great looking image.
PS: I love the picture of the Mole Beam on the dolly with the shaft of light. That's what happens when a DP collaborates with the gaffer.
I was asked to light a sequence of the ballet, Rite of Spring. It was something where clips of the ballet from difference artist were to be put together as a celebration of an anniversary of the ballet. Collaborating with the DP, we came with great-looking, dramatic-lighting apropos to the ballet. The Mole Beam on the dolly was for a moving key shot, where the light dramatically moved from a front key to a back three-quarter key. It looked great.