Drama 16 Stage Lighting

Photography By: Stephen Wilkes www.onebigphoto.com

AMUSEMENT

I’m a big fan of Coney Island. An amusement park is such an obvious choice for the theme. The lighting is bright and colorful and designed precisely to imbue joy, wonder and “amusement”. What I like about this composite photograph is combining the night time cacophony of color with the singular bright sunlight of the day which highlights the beach goers. A bright sunny day on the beach also imbues the possibility of “amusement”.

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomvu/2614894638/>

THEME: Vibrant, Colorful, Saturated

After a few bland ideas, I remembered Coney Island being a big deal in the lighting world, as well as my own fond memories of visiting it once upon a time. I searched ‘Coney Island’ tags on tumblr and when this one came up I knew it was perfect. Not just because it fits the theme, but because of how alive it is – and it’s all unnatural lighting. Nathan’s has been around since 1916 (1), so it’s essentially a Coney Island staple. The landmark mentality of all things Coney is perpetuated by the fact that everything is pretty much still there. What I love is that that combines with the fluorescent and neon of the contemporary world to show that it has adapted, for all that it will always retain it’s classic Coney feel. This picture combines the carnival-esque innocence of what Coney was with the bright and busy of the contemporary world, showing that Coney Island has withstood time and will continue adapting as long as there are people around to appreciate the history.

(1) http://nathansfamous.com/PageFetch/getpage.php?pgid=39