There are so many different types of lighting in this world…My friend John Featherstone gets some spectacular gigs. He recently lit the unveiling of Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, the spaceship that’s offering rides to anyone with tons of expendable cash. That has got to be one of those once-in-a-lifetime gigs. How do you even begin to know how to properly light a project of this magnitude? …Architectural lighting is such a specialized profession. I remember my friend Abbey Rosen Holmes telling me how much she enjoyed researching all the cool lighting fixtures you could use in a permanent installation. I also remember her telling me that the whole project she had worked on took over two years and countless meetings to complete…Lighting a circus must be quite a challenge. My friend Alex Reardon designs for one of these giant productions. He was kind enough to show me some of his visions through renderings he has made, and it’s amazing. He has ideas that incorporate moving video walls in between the audience and the performers. He has to preset the lighting for one of the rings while running the show that is being performed in another. The amount of unforeseen obstacles in these performances is staggering…Ice shows seem to be another art all to themselves…One might think that the lighting of a theatrical play would be easy — until you go see how the pros do it….Lighting for film and video is an art form I wish I new more about…And who designs streetlights?
From “LD-at-Large” by Nook Schoenfeld, PLSN, Feb. 2010
