LightFair Blog: It’s no secret that LightFair, now in its 34th year, would not be here without you – the lighting professional, or as we’ve affectionately nicknamed you – the Illuminator. Your continuing support and participation are critical to a healthy, thriving LightFair.
4 comments:
As someone who is planning on pursuing Lighting as my concentration, I appreciated this article. People that I've worked with in lighting really do seem to show these traits. Lighting folks have such a connected community (really reminds me of the stage management community). We help each other advance without making it the biggest competition of “who can design the best lights with the best technology”. They are passionate about what they do and why they do it. And, one of the best things about lighting people on here that isn’t really mentioned is how excited to do the work that they get to do. Every lighting technician or designer has turned a light on and did whatever they wanted to do with it and then have gone “hehehe yeahhh” with a big grin on their face. This is the community that makes it worth it.
I am not a lighting person, far from it actually, but I decided to read this article anyway. Maybe I can learn more things to love about lighting designers, or “illuminators” as the article says. Lighting designers are indeed constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible. With constantly evolving technology, they are always adapting to new methods. As all designers do, they have to be actively conscious about sustainability. Specifically, they have to think about energy efficiency, which I don’t usually have to worry about as a costume designer. Lighting designers have a culture of collaboration and mentorship, which is very valuable. In this industry, knowledge can be gained in classes, but you really grow when working in the field and learning from people who have a lot of experience. The lighting community is so very valuable to theatre as a whole and I think they are often overlooked. They really bring the whole show together and create an immersive experience for the audience.
As someone thinking about concentrating in Lighting, this is a really good read. Back home on Maui, the lighting Community is insanely small. There are more designers with corporate companies, but as far as theater lighting there are few to none of us, to the point that I've made myself somewhat well known as just a high school lighting designer. The main lighting designer at ‘Iao theater Has made it a point to give me as many lighting opportunities as possible. not only for me but she's made it a point to recruit as many students as possible so that the tech theater community on Maui can continue to grow rather than just older people working on the same shows. I think this is really important because if they do not continue to embrace the youth in the industry, the industry on Maui will not continue to grow like it should.
Ah, yes, the lighting community! As I am typing this out now, I am actually sitting in a crew call for focusing lights (we are ground crew.) There is no feeling like wearing the hardhat and hanging lights on a truss, am I right? Recently, I have been getting loads of interesting experience in lighting and it has made me appreciate the work so much more. The interesting thing about this article is that it can basically be written for any theatrical crew community. So many of us are so driven and passionate about our craft, so much so that we dedicate our entire lives to it. I truly admire the work of lighting designers, however, because of how much planning and prep that goes into their role. From plots to hanging to cabling to installation to focus to cueing, it's a wild time!
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