Week 10: Passion-Faaizah Saiduddin

Ever since I started running, I discovered a new passion for exploring new places and relying simply on my sense of direction instead of my GPS to navigate through new places. Because it was Week 10 finals this week, I needed a way to destress before starting my studying for the day. I waited about an hour before sundown to go running so I could capture the beautifully vivid sunset. It had been raining throughout the week so the sky for the most part was still filled with rain clouds. However, just below the weight of the clouds, I could see the bright orange, passionate sunset. It peaked through the heavy clouds and seemed to brighten up the entire sky despite it being so dreary beforehand from the rain. The imagery was the perfect thing I needed to motivate myself before returning home and continuing to study.

Week 10 [Passion] - Bella Keegan

Earlier this quarter I confessed my adoration of all things concerning the circus. If I'm being honest, I spend most of my free time training aerial silks because it is one of the few things that makes me truly happy. In a way, the circus is one of my absolute passions. Being up in the air I feel freer than I have ever felt on the ground, on the stage, or within a classroom learning. Throughout the quarter, I've been thinking of different ways to light circus performances. How do you light something so similar to dance but deal with the fact it happens in the consuming void of the air? Below is a video of me training in a studio that had blacklight lighting, which despite being poorly captured on video, made me realize that for things such as the circus arts and dance, the form of the body is the most important. Physical arts such as dancing rely so heavily on the body to tell the story and it was through the video below and its duotone from the lights that made me also realize that simple things can be just as beautiful, if not more so, than things that are overcomplicated. Although the face can be used to tell a story in dance, the body does most of the heavy lifting. I also recently saw a newly produced musical called Cages in LA this week, and while I would argue that this piece was not technically theatre, they did a lot of story telling through silhouettes and body language. Although a face can be important, what can truly make the difference in a scene of any kind is the body and the negative space it creates. I have always immensely enjoyed silhouettes within lighting and photography, and I think my adoration for that is that while it may be considered simplistic, it truly enhances what you are trying to look at and minimizes what you do not need to see. Lighting's ability to help guide the audience to what we want to see while also creating beautiful imagery are two of the main reasons why I have come to really enjoy it and am so enraptured by the story telling elements in can enhance and also create on its own.

Week 10: Passion (Summer)

My ultimate passion is beautiful days, having as many of them as possible. A cloudy sky breaking through beautiful fall leaves is my description of a beautiful day. The colors of fall are the strongest and most complementary color palettes in my opinion. The warm colors blend beautifully with a cold, chill climate and sky. There is no visible sun on this day but the source of warmth behind the clouds still illuminates, just with a beautiful texture. I find myself drawn to lighting of this color palette and that emotes this feeling. Maybe I just find beauty  in cold and unwelcoming space or lights. Or perhaps I just struggle with creating and finding the uncomfortable. I would love to try and recreate these colors and the feeling of this day through lighting.

Week 10 Passion (Lyndsey Robertson)

This week I dropped my sister off at one of her friend's quinceaneras and was able to snag this photo of the venue. While the venue as a whole was lit for more of a 'party' feel, this particular portion of the lighting gave the feeling of passion. The color tone was very rich and while it was in the cool tone range it was still very lively. Just as well, with the lights primarily being angled up towards the walls rather than being hung from above it made the general space very dark and somewhat mysterious as you could not see who was who from a distance. With this combination of lighting choices and the enclosed nature of the space, there appeared to be a deep, emotional vibe as people were forced to mingle close together to distinguish their friends amongst the guests.

Week 10: Passion (Kayo)

I had hard time to take picture that relates "Passion" this week, and I took just one photo. It seems not to express "passion," but I was impressive when I catch sight of a puddle that reflects the sky and trees even though most of the people may not noticed this puddle at all. It was beautiful and I was grad to find this. It makes me happy during the rainy day. I think this photo shows my sense and creativity because I think to take a photo reflects my sense. I was thinking about my passion, and I really love to take a  photo when I find a beautiful and amazing view or thing. And I feel that it connects with my passion. Not only I like to take a photo but also I always get inspirations or ideas from something I think that is beautiful or impressive when I create or do lighting design for art movement program. The ideas came from arts, views that I find in daily life, or when I play with lights. I always want to do something different and beautiful, and I think it is important that I have my own vision that is different from others.

Week 10: Passion [Sierra C.]

For this week's theme of passion, I took inspiration from my grandma's overt love and passion for all things Christmas. Out of all the holidays that warrant decor, Christmas is the only one that she bothers with and goes all out for. Every year, her house explodes with ornaments, Christmas villages and endless lights and there's always something new to look at in the yard each year I go home.

This year, she was decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving even rolled around and part of what I believe makes her so passionate about decorating inside and out, is that these lights create such great memories for the family. For as long as I can remember, she's always gone above and beyond in bringing the joy of Christmas time to the family and in creating that special atmosphere for all of us. As much as we joke about how much she adds to it each year and the obnoxious nature of her house being visible from down the street, it's something my siblings and I look forward to every year.

I think part of it also stems from her passion of being so involved in her faith and Christmas meaning so much more to her than any other holiday. It brings joy not only to her kids and grand-kids, but I can see how happy it makes her to have such festive decorations that remind everyone of just how important the holiday is for her.

What I love the most about these lights and decorations is that not only are they festive and cute, but the vibrancy and colors reflect the joy and warmth that they bring to everyone each year. Even the non-colored white lights are warm and inviting and there's very few light fixtures with cooler colors or temperature. Her yard is bright, happy and walking through the Candy Cane lane she created turns walking inside for family dinner into a festive experience for the entire month of December.

Week 10- Passion- Chloe King

When I think of passion I think of something that can create love and happiness, and something that can hurt. The flames are hottest when they produce blue light, it is easy to forget how much something we use every day can still scorch us. I associate cooking with family, love, conversation and good times. I associate flames from the stove with bad coffee and conversation while camping in the morning. These flames from my stove produce so many good things in life, are an intrinsic part of my day, and yet, I've seen houses destroyed from stove fires.

Week 9: Piano (Jialai)

There is always no lighting or scenic design in a piano concert that the audience simply sees the pianist and the piano on stage. I thought it is the visibility issue that lighting may interfere with the pianist reading the score and playing, but I noticed that there are a lot you can do with lighting with piano. In this picture, the lighting created a small rainbow on the side, which separates the piano into one dark and one bright side. I think this kind of design can be used to create more shadow or texture on the piano that corresponding to the music piece with enough visibility.

Week 9: Concert Lights (Lyndsey)

This weekend I went to a concert in a small venue in Pamona. During the headliners set, the drummer performed a solo in which the stage lighting had a dramatic shift. Much of the show was done in saturate colors, where as the solo was based all in crisp white lighting. While this did provide ample lighting for the crowd to navigate their way around the space, as this was somewhat of an intermission, it also paired well with the energy that the drummer was giving in his solo. In this way it kept up the dramatic momentum of the show because even though the lighting wasn't as moody as the previous set pieces, it still kept the crowd up beat and engaged.

Week 9: Weather (Summer)

This weekend I had the chance to go back to my hometown and visit family for a short lived vacation. To my surprise and luck, it snowed. I thought to myself, "does weather affect light and vice versa?" I realized the light made me feel differently about the snow. In the first picture the sun is the source of light and the clouds create a shadow across the snow white mountains. It is beautiful and inviting, I find the picture filling me with joy. However the second picture has parking lot lamps as its sources of light. The light is very bright and strains my eyes a bit. The light also bring out the texture of the snow. I feel a bit uneasy and unsafe when i look at the second picture. I feel as though the light emphasized the cold we feel when in snow. Either way, a good snowball fight is what I needed. 

Week 9: Black and White world (Kayo)

This week, I took this photo. I did not notice that outside is kind of darker and my room is also darker without lighting until I walked to bathroom. I found the mirror that shows myself and blind's shadow that outside lights create. It was just black white world, but it looks really cool. It feels like film noir. It is dark and cool, but it also mysterious. To using shadows and contrast makes mood completely change. There is a limit to express in the black and white world, but it can change the mood as dimming intensity and using angles. At a same time, I appreciate there is color world that can express more emotional statements.

Week 9 - The Middle of Nowhere [Bella Keegan]

My home is in the middle of nowhere. Every time people ask me where I'm from, I often find myself defaulting to the same description: "Half way between San Francisco and Sacramento." I remember someone looked at me once with confusion written all over their face, before they told me they had no idea where Sacramento was. Putting this aside, I visit home as much as I can even though it's in the middle of nowhere because of my mom. She means the world to me, and I don't mind revisiting a place where there is seemingly nothing to do if it's to spend time my mom. This Friday, we were participating in holiday festivities and taking the back roads between different shopping malls. At a stop light, I looked out the window and saw the gorgeous view below. The sky was sprinkled with clouds, yet the sun felt so golden and god like. The view was majestic and it was the light, the shadows provided by the clouds and trees, and the landscape that helped that feeling. As we drove through the backroads and I saw a never ending expanse of views like this, I felt content. Despite being in the middle of nowhere, I felt like I was in a dreamlike memory. The rain had yet to conquer my small area of nowhere, and in those moments the way the sun hit the yellow fields reminded me of the summers I spent in my hometown in the passenger seat as my mom drove me to various activities. As we drove the back roads, I felt so nostalgic and wistful and it was the dynamic god rays and scenery that stirred up such feelings of nostalgia in me. As boring as my hometown can be, it is moments like these that remind me that even something that is in the middle of nowhere can hold neverending beauty. 

Week 9: Festive Season [Sierra C.]

For the last couple of years, my family has started to get a little more extravagant in regards to decorating and setting up for the holidays and major family gatherings. This picture shows our Thanksgiving set up this year and while it doesn't show the extent of the string lights decorating the potted plants and all the candles on the table, I feel like what lights are present really highlight the all-encompassing warmth of the holiday and of being with family. The lights strung from the ceiling in combination with the fall color scheme and the sunlight breaking through the curtains created an aesthetically pleasing and comforting atmosphere.

What I found really interesting was how one of my cousins reacted to and even commented on the temperature of some of the lighting we had. Although they aren't all pictured and the string of lights outlining the planter box in the back left corner is hard to see, we did have some lights that were a much colder shade of blueish-white. My cousin helped decorate and wasn't keen on using them as a feature on the table because they were "too cold" and would mess with the warmer aesthetic she was going for. It was fascinating to hear someone else make comments about the temperature of light and to see in real time how it affected people emotionally outside of the classroom.

Week 9- Family- Chloe King

This holiday I spent time with friends rather than family. I've always viewed the holidays as a time for simple pleasures. Everyone unplugs, we focus on exactly what's in front of us. There's no need for anything extravagant to know you're where you should be. This simple lamp was on in our friends house the whole trip. Shedding a warm, dim, light over everything. Instead of the blue color of screens I'm normally surrounded by, this gave the room a loving, comfortable feel. A reminder that the holidays are for each other and simplicity.