Light Observation 7
Date.Time.Location- 3/25/19, 9:00 PM, Basement of my church.
Objective Description- Many of the church trustees, myself included, spent much of the day setting up the downstairs portion of the church for a birthday/going away party for one of our kids. By the time everything was set up and running, there were fluorescent, neon lights illuminating the room at almost every corner.
Subjective Description- Nights such as this never fail to open my eyes to the wide array of possibilities in terms of just how much of a difference lighting choices can make in how one sees a particular space. During much of the day, this room takes advantage of the natural lighting and serves as a simple daytime center for the youth of the church. As darkness fell and the vibrant neon colors filled the room, the space took on a different form. All of the colors, the greens, the blues, the pinks, everyone of them served to create almost a sort of imaginary nighttime world within this single space. In a move almost as simple as flipping a coin, the basement room was no longer a basement room, this space was an escape from the constant grind of the everyday world. The dark blue aura along with the vibrancy of the neon colors brought to mind certain stories of fantasy that I had taken a liking to early on in my childhood. I took a pause to take it all in and asked myself the question “Is this what true bliss feels like?”. The freedom and wonder that these lights created led me to not only believe that this was a replication of pure freedom and bliss, but to also become aware that the power to create these feelings and emotions all rests within our hands. The world is our canvas and we hold the brush!