The catologue picture

I was going through my old myspace that I don't even use anymore or use anymore and i stumbbled across some old pictures of myself. This picture here was taken last summer after my senior year of high school during an event called Senior Sunset were all the seniors gather up by the beach and give their last goodbyes to each other. The girl in this picture, Megan, was one of my best friends and we got to take a few pictures together and this was one of the pictures that stood out to me. I like this picture because I felt like the sun was illuminating our friendship, as stupid as that sounds. This halo sort of lighting made this seem like the perfect catologue moment, on the perfect day with the perfect person. I wonder what a difference the picture would have made if the sun were to be to the left of our heads or the right of them instead of right in the middle. I also like the white beackground there is a heavenly kind of feel to it. I really feel a good presence around us.

Out of Africa

This photo is from my trip to Africa that I went on a few years back. It was taken at sunrise and I love it because it captures the lighting of the sun's rays coming up. It is a cheerful picture in general, but what is also great about it is the way that the light reflects off of the glass window panes. The roof has so many different levels of texture due to the shadows that the light gives off. I also love all of the colors of light in the picture because they blend well together and the lighting is very subtle. This was one of the most beautiful mornings I ever awoke to!

Skylights...an amazing invention

So, here's another one. As I was looking through pictures for class, I found this rad ceiling. I thought "wow the lighting is completely natural, but it illuminates much of what is there." Then I realized that the glow on the ceiling other than the obvious sky light, was not from the daylight directly, but from the bounce of the daylight. It reflected off the floor onto the ceiling and illuminated it. I thought that was pretty cool. Then I looked at the wood and work put into the ceiling and it actually either was planned to be enhanced by the reflection or it was a happy accident, but the wood angles the shadows to actually make the wood look like it's pushing out towards you. This picture just really caught my eye, and I could completely see how houses used to be lit easily by sky lights. As long as the colors and angles were correct the reflection of the daylight would just illuminate the houses. Go Greek and Romans on using those skylights!

Disneyland lighting

So I know we talked about this like two or three weeks ago, but I was looking through my pictures and found one that I took when I was at Disneyland. I love how the lighting is still very intense even though the color of the blue is pretty dark. We were in line for Mr. Toads Wild Ride, a favorite of mine, and we were bored so we started trying to take funny pictures and I noticed the lighting above was kind of creepy because it was so dark. Then I looked up and the angle of the shadows completely changed on my face and it was kind of pretty. So we took pictures of creepy Brittany and sweet Brittany and made our time in line actually pretty fun. The lighting at Disneyland must cost them a fortune in electrical bills because the dark hues in the lighting are not that transparant at all so the lights are probably on at full all the time.

Threepenny freedom...

Now that I actually have a day off away from the 3PO, it's time to get back to work on the blog :)

On my way to the theatre from Campus Village, I was drawn to the tiny pools of light shooting from the posts perfectly spaced from one another (the sky was also pretty cool!).

I wanted to focus on the man-made light though, and theatrically, it's interesting to have the very music-like beat of pool of light, darkness, pool of light, darkness. It was also interesting that the pool of light that I was closest to was biggest and as the perspective continued on, it got smaller. I think that effect would be cool if it were onstage with a larger pool being more towards the orchestra and smaller pools as you went more upstage. I think this would be effective in a type of jail scene where you're walking along the cell block, or out on the docks of a port or something like that. I really believe iconic shadows are so much more effective than seeing something fully lit onstage, and I'm realizing that less is often more with stage lighting.

I'm on a boat! With light!

I am a fan of this picture for several reasons, one being that it's with one of my good friends and another being that this day was AWESOME, but I do love the natural light of this picture and especially how it reflects/absorbs into surfaces. This was on a boat out in Newport Harbor (...I think? Could be very wrong) at about 5pm, and I love the way water serves as a wonderful reflector for the natural sunlight.

What fascinates me more is how the light in this photo was very attracted to Sydney's and my skin. I swear, it looks like I am wearing a mask of sun, because due to the angle of reflection from this picture, it looks like the light is absorbing into my skin. Is this a reflection process? I'm not entirely sure. But it shows that people can also serve as targets for sunlight to bounce off of.

I will always be in awe of how we take sunlight for granted and how wonderful it is to think about. That day was a little cloudy, so the light was filtering through the clouds yet gained its brilliance by bouncing off of the blue water. I think it's really cool once we take the time to think about it. It makes me wonder how other surfaces respond to natural lighting and how lighting designers could imitate those reactions onstage.

Controlling angle and intensity

Controlling angle and intensity has been one of the hardest things for me. I find it hard to do because the light gives a certain effect/feeling when it hits the subject, but it also hits the floor and surrounding areas which also adds or takes away from that feeling. It would be a lot easier if the lights could be focused more or if they could come from places other than the ceiling. Because of this I find myself thinking and visualizing a lot more about which lights I am going to use and what its going to look like. In the photo above, the lights are closer to the subject and more focused, which reduces the amount of spill from the lights onto other parts of the room. I think it would be fun to create props with lights built in so that you can achieve effects like this.