Drama 16 Stage Lighting

2) Photo taken by Nic Christopher. Taken in Vancouver Canada March 22nd 2010, at approximantly 9:30 AM

3) THEME: Spring

4) DESCRIPTION: This is a photo that I took two years ago while I was visiting colleges on the west coast. This was taken when I was  walking around on Granville Island with my parents one morning. It was a nice and very bright sunshiny day and it had been cold and rainy the night before. The ground was wet but the weather was quickly warming up and it was an absolute beautiful day outside. We were three days into spring and it was an absolute beautiful sight because all of the bright flowers were at their peak in Vancouver. I wandered around looking through shops with my parents and stopped every five seconds to snap pictures of all of the blossoming flowers that were around us.

This picture is a perfect image to capture what springtime is to me. My birthday is tomorrow, March 20th, the first day of spring. Whenever I see flowers blooming, robins laying their eggs and baby calfs being born I know it is time for me to celebrate my birthday once more. This is my favorite time of year with the cool nights and the warm days. It is warm enough to wear shorts but still be comfortable when you sleep because it cools off nicely once the sun goes down. This picture perfectly captures this contrasting temperature and feeling of spring time for me. Seeing this vibrant and pure yellow flower blossoming from the still somewhat frozen ground was so beautiful. The flowers that bloom at this time of day are so hearty yet look so delicate and are that fresh reminder that free summer nights are just around the corner. The bright and super saturated green behind the flower pedals offers, yet again, one more reminder of that pure and vivid green of summer lawns lazy days. The light is so brilliant and pure in this image allowing for such extreme color saturation and such high contrast from the background to the image of the flower. One final piece that is so beautiful in this image is the dew that has collected on the petals of the flower. I personally have never seen this much dew on one single object before in my life. The dew is the piece of the image that makes it so unique and so special to me. The way that the light catches the surface of the water gives the image that extra depth and texture, all because of the cold nights and warm day that only the spring air can bring. The dew catches the sunlight in such a way that the reflections of the sun’s rays off of the yellow make the image glow and you can almost feel the warmth radiating off of the flower from the magnification of the droplets of water.

1) DATE-TIME-LOCATION: 3/20/12 – 2:27AM – Parking lot between Van der Poel and Netherlands.

2) OBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: I was walking back to my room in the early morning on the 20th. I was walking across the parking lot on the North side of campus with a few friends. The fog was really thick and the street lights were illuminating the fog and creating silhouettes against the trees.

3) SUBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: In the wee hours of the morning on the first day of spring I had an unreal lighting moment. It was my birthday, I wanted to go out for a walk and enjoy the wonderful night that we were having. I walked with a friend all the way to the quidditch field beyond the fitness center. We walked for about half an hour enjoying the spring time air and the birds that were chirping and the bunnies that were running all over the fields at 2:00 AM. It was a very cool time to be out when it seemed that most people were asleep yet there was all of this wildlife and all of these other critters wondering around. As we walked the fog began to roll in and continued to get denser and denser. It created an almost erie feeling as all of the sudden we were closed off from the world around us and brought into the close confines of just the field and the leaping bunnies at our feet. We laid down in the grass and absorbed all of the things around us, the sounds, the lights, the cars, the bunnies and the birds chirping like as if the sun was rising on a hot summer day.

After a while of laying down we decided it was late enough that we should get some junk food from HofUsa and call it a night. We began to wander back toward the fitness center and back toward the Netherlands. After getting food we passed Van der poel tower and began our walk across the large parking lot. The fog was really dense and heavy all around campus. We could not even see the tops of the towers it was so thick. The street lights were glowing bright and illuminating all of the particles of water that were floating all around us. As we passed some naked trees in a little bank of rocks in between parking lots, I noticed just how beautiful this image really was. The orangish glow from the light bulbs was broadcasting starbursts of light in all directions. When I aligned myself with a tree between me and one of the lamps, I noticed what an amazing silhouette had been created. With the light bursting out from the street lamp it added the only color into the night sky. The tree was completely black and baren against the orange and grey backdrop of the glowing fog. As we continued to walk I noticed that each branch had cast its own individual shadow that I could follow the distinct shape of all the way to the ground. There were beams of light bursting through each branch creating bright and dark lines radiating from the lamp to the tree to the ground. It was a spactacular sight and I was so happy I decided to take the walk to celebrate my birthday.

1) DATE-TIME-LOCATION: 3/19/12 – 7:23 – In Roosevelt Quad walking out of ABP

2) OBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: I was walking out of ABP after a nice dinner with Athena. We were walking towards Lowe for rehearsal. We were walked under the cherry blossom trees in the quad and I looked up. The safety light that was on one of the buildings and lighting the pink flowers from the side with orange light. The sky had a slight touch of blue to it and contrasted with the colors of the light and flowers.

3) SUBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: I was leaving ABP with Athena after a long day of classes and homework. I had a pretty rough day on Monday and was feeling stressed from many different angles. After a relaxing dinner of hardly anyone in ABP the two of us began to walk to Lowe for Spring Awakening rehearsal at 7:00. The sun had set but there was still a slight glow that was pumping the sky with a deep, dark rich hue of deep sea blue all across the sky just as Venus and Mars were beginning to show across the night sky. We passed under the cherry blossom trees outside of Roosevelt and I saw the most calming image that I had seen all day.

As I stood under the cherry blossom tree I stopped walking and stared at the petals that were filling the branches. One of the safety lights that was placed near the roof of the business school was pointed directly at the tree. The light being cast from the lamp was a deep and saturated orange glow that when it hit the pedals it became a more peach color as it reflected off of the vibrant pink of the blossoms. I stopped and looked up to see where the light was coming from because it appeared so stunning and pure as it hit the petals. I was shocked to realize that this sidelight was so orange and frankly unflattering as it left the light fixture. With these dramatically, side-lit blossoms appearing to almost glow I noticed how much they contrasted with deep dark blue that was behind it. The dramatic lighting and interesting side light that changed so dramatically when it hit the petals became so enhanced by the dark blue background and all I could do was stand in awe as I took in the beautiful springtime image that was hanging above me.

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DATE-TIME-LOCATION: March 14th, 10:22 pm, my 10th floor dorm room

OBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: There is one 60 watt bulb from a tall standing lamp shining to my right and behind me as I sit on my bed, looking at my computer screen which happens to be almost entirely white at that moment.

SUBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: The bright light from my screen held my attention, but suddenly, in my peripheral vision, I saw a strange monster looming.  Its wings were partially spread as it huddled across the room, appearing to be preparing for flight or perhaps guarding some prey it had just caught and killed.  I looked up to more clearly identify the creature, and of course, it was nothing but my roommate, preparing to go to outside with a cropped jacket hanging loosely from her body.

http://www.hybridlava.com/photography/35-gorgeous-bokeh-inspired-female-portrait-photography/

Unknown Photographer

http://www.akelstudio.com/blog/portrait-photography-lighting-when-one-color-is-not-enough/

THEME: Portrait/Strong Central Figure

DESCRIPTION: The woman in this picture is clearly the focus of the picture, hence, she is the only thing in focus.  The lights behind her give some color to the photo and add a lot of visual interest as opposed to a portrait on a plain background.  This picture appealed to me because (although I sincerely doubt this is the reality) it told a story.  I imagine a tolerably cold winter evening in a small city. It’s getting very close to Christmas, and the storefronts and few trees along the street are covered in holiday lights, giving a soft reddish glow to the night. A young couple strolls down the street, hand in hand, and stops occasionally to peer into a storefront (where this picture was candidly snapped).

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http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l6zuj4zCRm1qatyp5.jpg

I love this lighting.  All of the different colors and different angles behind him make for something very aesthetically pleasing, but then you wonder why Dave himself isn’t all red.

1) 3/15/12 – 6:52AM – Quadship Enterprise

2) Early morning night sky, lampposts, sunrise.

3) After having to wake up at the crack of dawn, I looked out my window expecting to see a bright beautiful sunrise. To my surprise, I found a completely black night sky. I stared at the bright LCD numbers on my clock – 6:52. I turned on the backlight on my phone – 6:52. I checked the window again to be sure. This time I noticed the lampposts on in the parking lot. Each one was emitting a beautiful orb of amber light. The amber from the lamposts was reflecting off of the damp ground, and those were the only sources of light. I felt like I was on the Twilight Zone or something. 6:52 and no sun? I definitely thought the apocalypse was coming. Lo and behold, the sky started to turn into a muted blue tone, but there was no sun to be seen. The Mayans were definitely off by a year… or maybe its just the aftereffects of daylight savings time.

1. 6:00AM, March 16, 2012, The Batcave (A.K.A. My dorm room)

2. The flourescent lights coming through my patchwork blanket created a pink and rainbow glow.

3. I hate waking up. This is contributed to by the fact that I love my bed. One of the reasons I so love my bed is the quilt my aunt made that goes on top of it. She patch-worked it for my graduation, out of the silliest fabrics she could find. It is bright colors all over. Some nights, I fall asleep with the lights on, and wake up the next morning tangled in my blankets, still in my jeans, with my quilt pulled up over my head. As I slowly open my eyes, the world around me is soft and shades of pink. The light filters through the multicolored top layer and the pink bottom to appear cotton candy colored by the time it reaches my eyes. It is sweet and warm, making my skin under it look odd but loved. the colors enfold me from all sides and I am a burrito of soft morning light. For some reason, such sweet softness when I awaken always causes me to be shocked that it was caused by the ceiling fluorescent in my room.

1. Dolce and Gabbana Glasses ad, from the Fall/Winter collection of 2009/2010, Photographed by Steven Klein

3. Portrait or Strong Central Figure

4. mmm….High fashion advertising. Tasty. One of the things I love about fashion advertising is the absolute commitment made to each choice. for example, they wanted this girl to look cold and alien, so they blasted her with blues and greens to create this other-worldly, underground feel. She is the only focused thing in the photos, with her background being a swirl of blurry neon.  She seems like the kind of woman who would be running the fight club in a movie like Tron. Perhaps her heart is made of metal. Also, girl has got some sick glasses. 😛

1. 3/13/2012, 12:34, freshman unispan

2. I was walking across the unispan and the lights against the tinted glass made an endless reflection of the walkway.

3. It was late at night and I was walking back to my room across the tinted glass unispan when I looked next to me to see a reflection of the inside of the unison. On closer inspection I realized it was an infinite reflection like the one you get when two mirrors are across from each other. It was crazy to look ahead and see several other walkways next to me. It was like seeing into alternate realities. It was a a fun experience.