the end: week 10

I am so indecisive about my last post because, well, its my last! I am so happy to have done these blogs because I really do notice a lot more about light that I can now articulate a little better than I could be for, or at least identify that it is light that I am noticing. So for my simple last blog I was looking at these photographs I took with my iphone, to make a card, and noticed that what I was interested in in these pictures were the highlights and shadows and the way that creates texture.

In this photo, I find texture and the contrast between texture to ground it. The way the crinkled paper picks up light and shadow is really interesting and actually has a lot of movement in it. The way the shadow reveals how the flower is resting on the brown paper shows how subtly light can fulfill its revealing purpose.

This photograph I don't find as exciting texturally as the previous, but I think what I do look at is how well you can see where the light source is by the shadowing. I think this also appeals to me because of drawing classes that made you draw in the arrow for the source so you would know how to shade the highlights and shadow. The smoother textures reveal a consistency to the relationship of the light to each object and there is a steadiness more than a play.

This photo shows a bit of both things I talk about in the others, but what I notice most here is the deep contrast between highlights and shadow and how dynamic that is. These colors really speak to me too in a musical way. I have realized in my looking more at light that silhouette is so beautiful and predominantly because that sharp contrast is so captivating. It is good for me to recognize this because my work has taken on such an interest in subtlety, I need to remember that high contrast is not only theatrical, it is very human to respond to it, and exists often in nature.

site specific: week 9

I went to Downtown Disney and found myself generally feeling a sensory overload, and thinking that might be the point. Each shop is allowed to go full out with its specific theme, which allows downtown disney to have the feeling of constantly changing worlds.This is done with different lighting throughout the strip of shops, with consistency in the hanging lanterns as well as the oversized lit up signs, making it have the feeling of a mini-city as well as a large outdoor courtyard in one place.

The shop I felt was successful in its lighting was the lego store. It followed the disney way of switching worlds quickly and had carefully thought its lighting plan full with color, strategic shadows on the ceiling, each display had lighting specific to its theme.

This robot had its own very bright cool white light, which made it stand out in its own sterile technical environment, while the dinosaur had a blue/purple light on it and the giraffe had a red/orange glow. Even with all these worlds within a world the shop's wares was still well-lit and looked like a store and not a playground. You could let these displays inspire your imagination, but you are still clear that you are there to shop.

The other shop I ended up in I wasn't expecting to find myself, but was pulled in by its bright sign and light. It was a small shop called little missmatched, and its light glowed from it, and stood out next to its neighbors. This was definitely successful in luring me to have an overload of bright white light pouring out of its doors, but once inside it was quite unpleasant, especially with the busy patterns and colors of the merchandise in the store. It seems like they mostly tried to show all the items they had as clearly as possible, but it ends up feeling like the socks want to make you one of them.

I visited both the spectrum and downtown disney as they were starting to close down and noticed that I liked a lot of the after-hours looks different shops had, and even felt that some of those designs were more true to the style and goal of the shop. There was one coffee shop and bookstore in downtown disney that had a really nice relaxed feel when open, but then I did question whether it was open or not. I empathize with lighting designers for shops because they do have to be well lit and even enough to look open and ready to accept visitors, and this must be in a balance with the mood and feeling they create.

freeway-week 8

I took this photograph with my phone on the way back from la and it didn't turn out how I really thought it would, but actually makes it easier to talk about the light in it. What I was noticing was how I found it interesting to see the slew of yellow headlights next to all the red tail lights and how the intensity and color had an interesting contrast, but looking at this photograph I see more of the high contrast between the warmer colors below against the coolness of the sky. I love how the sky looks here with its subtle texture and the different blues and purples in it. This contrast reminds me a little of the chakra photo I took of the bar display with the contrasting warms and cools. Another thing I think about when i remember the image of the headlights and taillights is that I wonder if because we are used to seeing this, we have an association with bright white light coming towards us and red light retreating from us, or if it really depends on how that light is moving or places in space. I notice in this photograph of the chakra bar that the bottles are displayed in the cool white light and the reds and yellows are adding depth behind.

reflected rehearsal light: week 7

I took these images in rehearsal this past thursday and was excited to have a figure in the image so I could see how the light touched her.I was interested in how this backlight created a silhouette, but I was more interested in how the light is able to highlight her contour and sort of wrap around the body. Because the angle is low it makes a really nice long shadow within the shaft of light it produces on the floor. I noticed in the 50c class, a lot of the students used the light in the center upstage because of the way it lights the floor in front of the model.I was interested in how the sunlight came in through the window and then was reflected in the mirror onto the floor, which created natural cuts.I also like how in this image above the light coming in from the window creates a blue/purple color on the floor and comes from the same source but is filtered in a different way. It is interesting also that we can photograph a light source and itmakes really interesting shadows around it, but if we were to design a cue with a light that when this directly into someone's face, they would not notice the shadow, but actually be blinded.

spanish leaves for mothers day - week 6

I just used this image for my mother's day pdf and she asked me if I had altered the colors in the image. I was happy to say no and remembered how amazing this tree was when I photographed it. I remember taking a bunch of pictures because of the way these little green leaves were glowing as the light hit the tree. I never felt like i could catch it quite right but in this bottom photo you can see how in the leaves where the light is able to shine through them they give off this glow that set the leaves completely off from the very opaque branches they are connected to. it was amazing to me and looked magical really, as if the leaves were glowing from the inside. This makes me think of how some light can conceal its source and actually reveal more about what it is lighting than the quality of the light. In these photos the light shines through and reveals all the fine little details of the skin on the leaf. It isn't concealing, but revealing more than you would normally look at, which takes a sort of patient interest. It is something I want to look at for a long time because it is showing me so much and there is so much information there to take in. I think I have seen this in drama and dance productions where the way someone glows under light makes you feel like they have some real internal power or gift. Light is able to bring that magical quality that really makes you feel like you are in a different world. I definitely felt that when I saw this tree glowing in spain. the green is quite a spectacular color, especially when featured like this. It's amazing that it really exists. sometimes beautiful colors can really knock your socks off.

parking lots week 5

I've been noticing parking lot lighting late at night recently. I haven't been able to snap a good picture but found this online, which kind of shows what I've been thinking about. These lights in such a large empty space give a lonely and creepy feeling. I feel like the way you can see how bright the light is and how much it can light as it hits the ground but how quickly the sky eats it up and creates such an interesting contrast. The lights seem to be struggling to light what they can and the long shadows add to the eeriness. I think you get a similar feeling in a low lit warehouse or even in the theater when the work lights are on, however the outside space makes a strange separation between the lit ground and dark sky the makes things within it feel small in comparison to these huge spaces.

Chakra Week 4

I was visiting my friend Maddy who works at Chakra, the indian restaurant the the UTC and noticed how elaborate their liquor display was. The entire restaurant is dimly lit, to a very specific level, which I found out is quite challenging to perfect because Maddy has had to go through training just to light the restaurant in the right way. Looking at the liquor display I was confused as to what the effect of the lighting was supposed to be. The dramatic light has a swanky feel that I would associate with upscale restaurants and bars, but ones that are trying to have a hip appeal, perhaps to a younger crowd. I am finding it hard to articulate the feeling I get from this and I think that has to do with the exclusive feel of it, as if I am not quite cool enough to understand the appeal of this sort of quality. It is really interesting to me that I feel stuck when trying to describe this type of lighting. Makes me think I should see more.