Week 10

While on a quick weekend trip to Germany with my family, we were walking around downtown during the midafternoon, and I was taking pictures of all the buildings for my brother who wants to be an architect. After looking through some of the pictures- one really stood out to me as a picture that I wanted to share with the class. I really liked this picture because of the use of shadows. The dark clouds overhead really compliment the dark grey color of the building and it gives everything a sense of distance. However, there is a hint of light coming from the background, and shining on the upper part of the builindg that helps to add some warmth to the darkness surrounding everything else.

Week # 10: Extreme Angles

I took this picture at Wilson Park in Torrance today around 6pm. For the last couple of sundays, I have had rehearsals in a dance room at this park's rec center. Usually the sun is just setting when my rehearsal is over but today, however, I was excited to see that it was still light out because of the day light savings time change. I was also excited because I found something to take a picture of for the last lighting blog. This field is right outside of the dance room. I decided to take a picture of it because I really liked how the sun's extremely low angle makes the not-very-tall tree's shadow cast across the entire field. It was really cool to see how just the angle of the light can make someone's or something's shadow be ten times bigger than their actual size. Also, it is probably hard to see, but I also liked how the shadows of the trees in the back of the picture make a kinda zebra print design on the ground. I am starting to really notice all sorts of real gobos in nature now and it makes me happy.

Today, I took my dog Peanut Butter to the dog beach in Belmont Shore. It was the perfect day for the beach. We were able to spend our trip under clear skies and a bright sun. I made sure to leave around twelve or one in the afternoon to make sure that we could go out when the sun would be at it's highest point. When we got there, I let him off his leash as usual and watched him run straight for the water. As I was watching him splash in around and chase after other dogs, I thought to myself how much the sun played such an important role in the happiness of me and my dog. It really is a life source that gave us the energy we needed to get out of the house and have a good time. Along with the clear skies, the sun's reflection off the water lit up the entire beach with a beautiful blue tinted light that reminded me of what we discussed in class about memory. It reminded me about how we light good memories brighter and better in our heads than the actual light of the event that had taken place. I felt that watching Peanut Butter play at the beach was lit as a memory and that I could not have lit it any better myself if I were trying to recall what the day was like. This picture isn't of Peanut Butter, but it captures the emotion and life of our day.

Week 10 - Creepy and the Unknown

As my last blog of the quarter, I wanted to take the chance to study something that really always intrigued me. As we all know, when we are children, the darkness always feeds our imaginations and can produce some scary images that can really trigger our emotions and make us react in very astounding ways. Unto this day, I am still afraid of the dark. Even in my own house, I will begin to doubt myself and really ask whether what is in the dark is completely known. When the imagination is on fire, our behaviors can change dramatically. In fact, I still lock the door to my room when I go to sleep at night. How can so much tension be produced through darkness? I took this picture because it is somewhat the epitomy of what I am talking about. Many lessons for lighting I have learned from this picture.

First of all, what is amazing is how this picture was taken in broad day light and still managed to produce so much fear in me. The picture was taken at two o'clock in the day. It is probably a safe time of day for most. It is for me. I know for a fact there are people inside my house. Therefore, I am pretty sure nothing is in this dark corner. Still, I am blown away because I am just so frightened by this image. I still think there can be something lurking in the corner waiting to grab me. Even though I know this garage very well, it is still dark enough for me to wonder if there is something in the corner. This really stresses the idea of angling and tension. The angle of the shadows is in the corner of the garage. I can't really see all of the angle, and therefore, I begin to wonder if I am missing something in that corner. Shadow can also really spark our imaginations. This goes for a show as well. If I were to brighten sections on a stage and retain a small sense of shadow in a certain section, I could probably produce fear from my audience since I will get them to wonder what is in that section of the stage. Plus, if I were to add shadow effects around the stage and brighten everything up to a good percentage, just because everything is revealed I am still causing tension because I am keeping the audience in a place that is still borderline mysterious. I am hoping to make a horror show, and I would love to play with shadow effects. I also notice how white colors also add to that terrifying effect. The only colors in the garage seem to be white and black. The white is obviously more revealing. Since the white is not the dominating color but is the most visible, I begin to draw into the borderline mysterious area. I can only see these objects. What else is in the garage... I know what is there but is there something more? Since white is so visible, I can probably really begin to play with brighter colors to reveal a few objects on stage and make the shadow a dominating effect. I can draw the audience in and really get them scared.

Shadows produce so much tension. It just goes to prove how we can create a feelings in the human being that can defy logic. We might logically know there is nothing in the theater that can hurt us, but we have the power to overcome that logic.

Week 10 Blog

I was driving back home a couple of weeks ago from school, when it was still raining, and I noticed how beautiful the weather looked. Normally I'm not a big fan of the rain, but this image I snapped while driving in my car was extraordinary. There is this great contrast between rain and sunlight which is an uncommon sight for me to see.

To me, this photo was a little bit symbolic of life as well. It's that light at the end of the tunnel. The sunlight that came out represents hope in my eyes as it is sort of nature's promise that the rain will soon stop. I thought this was a magnificent image that is so meaningful to my life. It is a reminder that any negativity in my life will never be everlasting.

In addition, I love the shadow the light creates with the trees. It's not a typical picture of a tree, but instead it is outlined and black. I really appreciated this image of light and I hope this photo can inspire others as well.

Ricky Wang

Week #10 - Stay a little bit longer.....

"The distance is too long && the visits are too short"

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This is my love. I took this picture early this morning while we were having breakfast and reading the newspaper (I subscribe to the OC Register like the old soul/nerd I am) before he had to drop me off to my show and then take the long 7 hour drive back to base. As a little backstory, if you remember from my first lighting presentation, I mentioned that he is in the Navy & even before he joined we have been in a long distance relationship from the very start. I realized I haven't seen him longer than a full 2 days since last spring break. Every moment is fleeting... With this in mind, I'll bring you back to why I chose this picture. At first I was upset that the flash didn't turn on which resulted in his picture being more of a silhouette and the morning light can only been seen on some parts of him. The significance of this can be drawn back to my quote I mentioned at the beginning of this blog entry. The visits are short. He comes & goes, vice versa. The silhouette of him signifies just how fleeting these moments are because he is in a sense gone too fast for the sunlight to catch him. He's never around long enough to be lit completely. The small parts of him that are lit are the very small indications that "Robert was here". It's a hard life, but a relationship quote in which mirrors my feelings perfectly is:

"Distance is not for the fearful, it is for the bold. It’s for those who are willing to spend a lot of time alone in exchange for a little time with the one they love. It’s for those who know a good thing when they see it, even if they don’t see it nearly enough…"-Unknown

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It was nice reading all of your blogs (thanks for sharing) and the quarter has been fun. Good luck on finals & have a great Spring Break everybody! Enjoy :)

♥ Darlene

Sunlit Shadows

This is a photograph I took of my sister recently. I love it because it has such defined gorgeous colors that are high lighted by the sun. The sun has this amazing ability to create a vivid , multi-dimensional light that can highlight just as well as it shadows and this art is displayed very well in this photo. I love how well the background is lit up and exposed in contrast to the stark shadows that cover up parts of her face. It creates an allure and this level of mystery that can only be created through this combination of contrasting light and color. Though the background is a lot brighter, the simple fact she is lit in a more multidimensional way gives my sister the center stage of this photo by drawing the eye to her. Part of her face is highlighted by a bright light, while other parts of it are cast in dark shadows. One of the things I have come to appreciate most about sunlight is it's natural ability to create shadows. Though this can be sometimes unfortunate when taking pictures, it has the ability to create so many interesting and unique patters and evoke so many different kinds of feelings.