Mingna week 9

I took this picture at Claire Trevor Theatre. This is the space behind the scrim, under cyc lights. The cyc lights are hanged to evenly lit the scrim. It looks very different looking at the scrim from front (from house) and looking what cyc lights do behind the scrim. I feel lighting could create a very immersive environment, an environment that we would not often see in real life. Lights can transform a space. 

Week 9 –– California Drought

Newport Beach, CA (11/24/15, 4:35pm)

This park is the place that I often ride my bike at. This lake used to have a plenty of water, but now its basin is shown because of the drought. And there are many cranes searching for food. The light on the surface of water is totally different from the basin. The basin is barren and the light on its surface is muddy. Even though there are many white and blue colors in this picture, their sense of purity is still being taken away by the muddy brown color. This reminds me some scenes from The 39 Steps where the set is at moors because this is very much like it. So I can use some muddy colors to show the environment.

Week 10: Reflection of Light

This picture demonstrates how light can be reflected off of objects. Light is reflected off of all objects, my black jeans reflect no light, a red bouncy ball reflects red light, etc.

This mirror is incompatible with the beams of the car's headlight. So instead of absorbing the light it reflects all the light (white light).

However, the mirror works as an agent to help move the light and redirect it to hit other objects. Such as my hand and face.

If you ask the question,  "If a red car is sitting in a room with no light, is it still red?" No. Because there is no light to reflect off of the car to give it it's red color. That's why we have shadows in life. It's caused by the absence of light to reflect off of objects. In theatre, this is how we are able to achieve such extreme shadows and cut people in half with light/the absenceof light. The truck pictured is reflecting beige-ish light and almost no light on it's other side. It's not that the truck is constantly beige and that the lack of light is making the beige appear darker. It's that the beige is actually darker and has changed colors.

Week 9 Janani

This is taken in the Paris Paris Casino at Las Vegas. This picture refers to previous week's topic of depth as it is tunnel like and the lighting makes it feel like one is on a bridge. I also liked the shadows that were created even with the casino being so brightly lit. The lighting also accentuated the ceiling which was painted to look like the day sky. Even with so much red in this picture I found it aesthetically pleasing. Like torches lighting the sides of a tunnel, these red lamps make a pathway for people and light their way while also making it look mysterious.

Carolina Sunset

The day after Thanksgiving, my parents and I go to town to see a movie. Albemarle, North Carolina: the home of Kelly Pickler. 

After the movie, going out to the parking lot, I am taken with sky and setting sun, which looks particularly interesting. The sun is hiding behind the pine trees. The sun is almost blinding as it sets - its color moving from yellow to orange. It's interesting that we see the shapes of the trees, but very little detail. The sun is almost creating a silhouette effect for the trees. And because the light is near the base, the trees appear taller near the top. Because our eye is so drawn to the light, we also miss the cars in the photo, and the fact that the photo is taken in a parking lot. Without context, you could mistake this for a campground or forest. However, if the sun where in a different place in the sky (say directly overhead) the scene may look more like a parking lot with trees in it. It's an interesting lesson on how lighting can create context and even create setting. 

Sean Deuel Week 9

(This week I had two smaller things that I took note of and want to talk about.)

When I was out to dinner the other night I noticed this really cool lighting fixture. The light is actually a but brighter than it seems because I wanted to be able to see the texture. The way the crystal gets illuminated and disperses the light gave the light of the room a softer feeling. I was surprised that there was not a texturing effect from the light going through it and only a diffusion.

The second thing I noticed was the shadowing and lighting effect of my water bottle. At first I was just interested in the small focusing effect just to the right at the base. Not only does the water focus it, like a magnifying glass effect, but the small bumps along the side add more texture of breaking it up.

THEN I got really confused when I realized the the only light in my room was coming from behind me (behind the camera), but the focusing effect was taking place in a second shadow going to the side. I realized that the the source for this was my light being reflected through my mirror.

These observations made me realize that when you are lighting a stage the objects and set on the stage will always have an effect on your lighting. This can be unpredictable and should be watched out for.

Week 9 The Sun in the Night

I went down to San Diego this Thanksgiving. I went with Jacques to visit his father, and in his backyard I came across this garden lamp. I wish I had a better camera on me, but this was the closest I could get for the photo. Originally the lamp made a full "sun" on the ground. I'm not sure if the designer of this light did it intentionally, but it was interesting to see how this little garden lamp was able to create such a complex "sun" design. The next morning I went out to take a photo of the lamp again to see if the shape of the glass and the metal cage on the outside was the cause of this design. It is so amazing how this little garden lamp could make such a crisp design just like a Gobo.

Lighting in Other Places - Depth

What I find interesting is how Light can create depth, but also destroy it. Texture and shadow help create a far away feeling (like my blog post on texture) but it can also minimise distance between two objects. This picture was taken when I went camping up in the mountains near Bishop, and the mountains felt really small and close up whilst in reality, they were over 8 miles away. I look at this picture, and I see that the light from right above me washes out any sort of depth from the trees to the mountains. Light can be useful in creating depth, but it can also take it away if used just willy nilly. Suddenly and 8 mile canyon becomes a canvas, and so many beautiful hills and dips and valleys become nothing more than washed out.

Week 8 Depth Mingna

I took this picture at Campus and University, near mesa. I feel that in order to have depth, there needs to be something close to viewers as a reference. The plants that are closer to the camera has a hint of amber sunshine on it, and that hint of sunshine contrasts to the sunset at the background. The shadow of the trees also creates depth, as shadow extends the trees and connects the foreground to the background.

Week 8 –– Depth

Newport Beach, CA (5:15 pm, 11/22/15)

 I took this photo when I was going home. The sun was almost gone and most of the buildings became dark. The street lamp was drawing my attention that it created shadows of the cars on the ground. It also increased a sense of depth of the road that looked creepy when the low intensity yellow lamp contrasted with deep blue sky and black surroundings.

Week 8 Depth Janani

To be honest, the blog assignment for this week was really hard for me because I found it hard to see lighting inspire depth. I had images in my mind but finding  the images surrounding me was hard to do. So as I walked past the clock tower I thought it represented depth to me because to me depth is a tunnel-like aspect of things. So this picture was depth to me because its bright and then as the tower goes up it merges into the darkness of the sky.

This picture below is that of a tunnel like aspect found close to the clock tower. It shows depth in terms of the physicality of it but somehow the lighting doesn't do too much except light the pathway of the tunnel like area. Yet it does signify depth.

Week 9- Depth via Wall Sconce

I went to see Man of La Mancha at the Barclay Theatre, when I noticed these wall sconces that brought dimension and depth to the accents on the wall. This uplight brings dimension to the wall by highlighting the protruding accents on the wall. The accents on the wall also prevent some of the light from reaching every surface of the wall giving the wall dimension through the dark and well lit , portions of the wall.

Week 8 (Depth)

This was a photo that my friend was able to take a photo of her lamp in her room. I love how the photo turned out because the pink hue from the lamp perfectly reflected on the white window blinds. What gives this image a sense of depth is the isolation of the light. It makes its surroundings so dark that it seems endless. I know that from my Halloween project Mingna mentioned that one of my cues had a sense of depth to it, even though the color on the Fresnel and cyc were the same. Usually what I would use for depth in lighting is something like a tunnel or a long path way of lights. I never really took to account how isolation could also create depth through the background. Because we are so focused on one area, the rest of the space seems endless.

Sean Deuel Week 8

This picture is taken of the road that runs down the middle of Vista Del Campo. I really like the pattern that forms here from the light posts. They alternate side being offset enough from one another that the shadow weaves around. I feel that this also captures the theme of depth because as the light and shadows trail off into the vanishing point in the distance, they capture the three dimensionality of distance.

Light, Shadow, and Depth at LACMA

Grad field trip to LA for art! I paused as we entered from the lobby to the upper level of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. A large window upstairs showers the room with light. I was so taken with the interplay of the natural light on the room and sculpture in the lobby, I snapped a few photos. As you enter, there is a large black angular sculpture that you walk through in the lobby. The shape is brought out with the natural light from a window up stairs and above from the ceiling, which creates an interplay of light and shadow.

Mingna Week 7

I took this picture at Infinity Mirrored Room created by Yayoi Kusama. It is on view at Broad Museum. It is a square room with mirrors covering the entire four walls. There is a small platform for viewers to stand on after entering the room, and the rest are water on the floor. Many LED lights hanging from the top, and they are reflected through the mirrors. The intensity of the light change.

I think this is a good example of lighting design applied in art installation. Kusama uses mirror as a medium to manipulate lights. It reminds me of the debate between “art” and “design,” whether design is art?

Week 7 Janani

I noticed this inside the Barclay while setting up for Man of La Mancha (which you all should totally see by the way - shameless plug).

I kept trying to figure out how this pattern was being made and reached the conclusion that maybe the balcony extension cuts of the light in this shape creating a pattern, perhaps a gobo like effect on some of the walls of the Barclay. This was fascinating because I was not able to immediately identify the source and I thought it was pretty cool how the light formed patterns so clearly without the gobo. From one angle it looks like a misshapen double infinity and from another angle it is like the two arches intersecting each other. Somewhat as shown in the picture below.

 This is the Napier bridge from my native city Chennai which is in India and seeing that pattern on the wall immediately reminded me of this bridge. They do have their differences but I loved the immediate connect I felt. (I did not take the picture of the bridge. Sourced from Google Images).