Something I love to do is take one of your favorite cinematographers and look at the work they did before they did huge movies, then watch one of their big ones. You can really learn style, growth, ect.

For example:

Janusz Kaminski -Truly admire this man in his ability to shoot for story, always spot on color and camera movement.  

Cool as Ice - 1991 (HILARIOUS and fun to watch Vanilla Ice be stupid with some startling beautiful cinematography)

THEN

Saving Private Ryan - 1998 (That movie really broke ground on doing some new things with camera and is an all around amazing film)

Roger Deakins - The man, the legend.

Barton Fink - 1991 (Gotta get the Deaks, and as his first of many with the Coens, I’d start here)

THEN

No Country for Old Men - 2007 (IMO the last TRULY AMAZING Deakins cinematography, also the sound design in this movie deserves a post of its own) Some people will argue for Jessie James as well which I have yet to see.

Emmanuel Lubeski - Arguably my favorite cinematographer

Y Tu Mama Tambien - 2001 (This movie is praised for so many things, but I think the cinematogrphy is often overlooked, Chivo really let the emotions in this film thrive by pulling into Wide shots for pertinent moments which makes the CUs very intense)

THEN

Birdman - Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) - 2014 (duh.)

Jeff Cronenweth - Talk about style, the master of “dark” shots.  

Fight Club - 1999 (IMO still one of the only movies to successfully employ fluorescents and has extremely well executed camera style)

THEN

Gone Girl - 2014 (Also fun to watch Fincher change as a director, Gone Girl wasn’t as seamless beginning to end as I believe Fight Club to be, but still worth a watch)

Matthew Libatique - Some are not a fan, but he truly picks a fantastic crew and knows how to collaborate with the best of them

Everything is Illuminated - 2005 (An underrated film in general in my opinion with a blossoming Libatique style)

THEN

Black Swan - 2010 (There are haters of this movie and of Libatique. He did some really beautiful and subtle things with VFX)

Damn, I could go on…

If you want more suggestions or to share your own with me (or just fight with my opinions), get in contact.  I’m always happy to talk cinema!

There is no end to the movies and cinematographers you can do this with and what you can take from it. 

Other guys to check out - Stanley Kubrick (in all reality he was his own cinematographer), Robert Richardson, Guillermo Novarro, Takao Saito, Robert Burks, Vittoro Storaro, OMG I NEED TO STOP before I get too excited.