Drama 16 Stage Lighting

I took this photo last spring break in Washington D.C.

The theme is fun; this photo fits this theme, not because sun rhymes with fun, but because sunshine has many positive associations with it.

The sun beats down on the land illuminating everything and making shadows small and scarce. It is the big white, hot monster come to scare away the night. The vibrant colors of the world dance in this mass illumination; all the details of objects that in the dark or gloom would not be seen invite the eyes to come and play with them. “Frolic, skip, dance from one place to the next,” they shout. “Marvel, embrace this warm light, and bathe in it,” the light beckons the eyes. The brightness and apparent whiteness of the light glimmers off of the surfaces it touches causing parts of them to appear as white as a pearl. It is a treasured light; it is playful fun. Children at school who look out the window will crave to feel its rays. Some working people will want to throw off their hats and run out into it. If they do, then they might cartwheel with joy and excitement as the light sparkles around them. “The light! The light!” In winter when such light is scarce, are not some people depressed? Do they not feel bored and incapable of happiness? Thus, when the sun returns, the fun also returns. The sunlight, the light source that first gave us the ability to delight in what we see and that gives the eyes so much to play with, is a fun light.

http://www.sobify.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/10-homely-living-spaces-beautifully-decorated-for-christmas-8-640×400.jpg

I’m one of the least domestic people you will ever meet … Which is strange, because when I think of “happy” lighting, I get imprints from my childhood of Christmas Eve night — with the tree lit up, a fire burning in the fireplace, and maybe the glow of a ’90s television playing The Santa Clause or Charlie Brown’s Christmas. I feel safe, carefree, hopeful for the presents to come the next day, and all the delicious food that my aunts and uncles would inevitably bring over the next day. Before I became painfully conscious of Christmas “materialism” that Charlie Brown so hated, or of the tensions in my family between this and that relative. I had not yet experienced loss or guilt. All I cared about in that moment was the warm glow of the fire and the Christmas lights, and how this lighting made our shag carpet warmer and cooshier than it would be on any other night.

2. Photo by Chris and Lisa Teso – http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanthonysfeast/3646198388/in/set-72157594268821333

3. Theme: Night Life

4. This is a photo of Saint Anthony’s feast weekend in Boston. Growing up in a very Italian family, this particular feast is one of the most important (and lively) of all the feasts. I’ve gone every summer for as long as I can remember. The day starts around noon, and goes well into the night (as seen in this picture). It’s a giant party, and what I consider the epitome of “night life”. Hundreds of people fill the street, there’s always live music, and street vendors sell merchandise and freshly made Italian food. People hang out their windows yelling in Italian, and stapling their donations to the statue of Saint Anthony that goes around multiple times throughout the day/night.

In this picture, I love that you can see all of the hanging lights suspended between the two rows of buildings. The same lights have been used since I was a kid. There are so many of these lights that they are the only things needed to really light up the street. The other thing that I love about this picture is the lights coming from each of the vendor’s tents. Every vendor lights up his/her own tent in their own way (often with fairy lights, though) and in this picture, the tents actually seem to be glowing because of it.

In addition to the lights in the street, outside of this photo you’d also be able to see the city lit up. This picture just reminds me of home, and my childhood.

1) MARCH 12th, 2011, Outside the Blake Hotel in Charlotte

2) OBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: The sun is shining down through the glass ceiling, which is circular and has a metal patter in it. Because of this, the ground has dark shadows criss-crossing between the bright patches of sunlight.

3) SUBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION: This lighting reminds me of being a child. The darkness where the beams are above create paths on the ground that I want to walk down like a balance beam, and the pools of light are bright, and invite me to jump from pool to pool, avoiding the dark “cracks” lest I break my mother’s back.