Week 4 - Jacqueline Malenke - Shadow Play

Since I moved to Irvine for school, I have started to take walks throughout my new neighborhood. I am forever grateful to be here for many, many reasons, and one of those reasons is the fact that I am guaranteed to live in such a beautiful area while I am here. I enjoy that Irvine has so many different plants, trees, and buildings. When the sun is shining, I get to see the shadows and textures nature creates while out and about. The photo below was one I took while on one of those walks. In the photo you see there is a tree up against a wall with stark sunlight peeking through a gazebo ceiling and many plants and foliage. Those shadows are creating a depth and a story to this photo. This is texture. This photo is incredibly useful for a lighting designer's research. For instance, say I am designing a realistic play that takes place in a backyard garden. I can exactly reference this look onstage to create the world of the play. 

However, not all texture is sunlight shining through trees. Shadows can be hard edged or soft. They can be really stark or very dim. They can have a naturalistic quality to them or they can be incredibly rigid and architectural. The photo below tells a completely different story than that of the tree. There is a woman laying on a hard concrete ground inside of an empty room. According to the shadows on the walls, there are doors that are blocked by bars. The texture tells the story that she is inside of a jail. Without the shadow of the barred doors, we would only see a woman inside of an empty room. There would be no other context to help tell us the story that she is in jail. In this case, the texture not only helped create the world, but it defined the location of this photo. 

 

I am so drawn to lighting design because it is an opportunity to paint and create endless stories just by defining and redefining the lighting on someone or something. Plus, I can get some of my inspiration just by going on a walk around my neighborhood! Overall, I really enjoy playing with textures within my own lighting design. I have created a warm sunny day in a park with the light shooting through trees as well as a boxing ring using sharp edges and rigid shapes. I really enjoy making abstract looks using textures and shadow vs light. This is part of why I am so excited to finally get to do dance lighting, as I have only ever assisted lighting designers on dance shows. Although I have a general idea of the use of textures within lighting design, I am excited to learn and get a better understanding of them while I am here.