This morning, I was out driving and happened upon some lovely dramatic lighting. From where I sat in my car, the early morning sun was just starting to peek over the mountains, enhanced by the moisture in the air. It was all rather grand, and I hurriedly snapped a few shots before I continued down the road.
I was struck by a few things.
First, the quality of the light was strong and clean, with a very pale yellow color. Thinking about our class discussion on brushstrokes/types of instruments, I thought it could most closely be approximated using a par - a harsh, strong beam, with color added, and lots of spill.
I also thought about our idea of Conceal / Reveal, and thought that this was a good example of a balance between the two. The side of the mountain facing me was covered in shadow, as well as the side of the clouds that were facing me. But the sun illuminated the sky behind the mountain, and caused the edges of the mountain and cloud to have a bit of a halo effect.
I tried to think about recreating this moment onstage, and thought that in addition to whatever instrument was chosen to recreate the sun (probably a par, probably at a back-ish angle?), there could also be a use of the cyc, allowing the audience to get a view of the background sky seen in the photo. It might be tough to get the right intensity on the par, so that an audience isn't blinded, but so the effect still comes through.
Ah, nature!
Some of the best lighting inspirational moments I've ever seen have been in nature, specifically the sun/moon and the mountains! I think the awe and splendor of something so grand as the mountain landscape mixed with natural sources of light is simply stunning. Great image and wonderful thoughts on how to emulate this scene on stage. The strength of the par with the use of the cyc for our sky silhouette would be beautiful. We use every day life and day to day moments in our designs all the time, and it is useful to draw on experiences that we know will relate to our audiences as well. Stunning!
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