A Rave, Escape Wonderland 2016

So today the picture that I am going to introduce you the lightings in one of the biggest raves at California, Escape Wonderland. People might not be familiar what a rave is, so let me explain. In Wikipedia, the definition of a rave is, "a large dance party featuring performances by DJs and occasionally live performers playing electronic music, particularly electronic dance music (EDM). The music is amplified with a large, powerful sound reinforcement system, typically with large subwoofers to produce a deep bass sound. The music is accompanied by laser light shows, projected images, visual effects and fog machines." In other words, a bunch of crazy people dancing and listening to live EDM. At the same time, there is amazing lighting that brings the energy to the next level.



Actually, this is when I first felt the power of lighting. It easily made everyone in the rave more excited. It was my first time to see so many different kinds lighting. And they were all different from theatre. In the theatre, the lighting is projected on the actors. However, in the rave, the lighting is on you, the audience. Sometimes you could see the laser lights are in front of you and you feel like you could easily grab them if you simply raised your hands. I am always deeply impressed by the lighting anytime I go to a rave. Thus, in my opinion, you have to nearly master the technique of the lighting to become a light designer in a rave. And it will be my ultimate goal after becoming a light designer.

This picture is really great to me, I love time lapses and the way they capture light. I particularly enjoy the different lights on both sides and how they juxtapose each other. It is as is to say that we are always in constant motion and we can merely attempt to capture it, which is especially true in a metropolitan area such as this. The brightness of it is also deeply alluring for the brightest of stars shine in the darkest of times. 

Soft Patterns

I took this picture one afternoon on campus. I thought the sun shinning behind the tree casts such a delicate design on the concrete. Light not only colors our world but patterns it as well. Then I realized that this design looks just like a gobo design I have seen in some performance before. The design also has a soft focus, which is something I would have never noticed until learning about how lamps can have a range of focuses. 

Post Rain, Blue Sky

    Last week after one of those really major rain storms, it was amazing to walk outside and see how bright and blue the world was. I don't just mean the sky either, everything around me seemed to have a blueish tint. While walking to the bus stop I notices these low clouds and how the sky seemed to be reflecting off of them. They were not just white, they were almost glowing from the sun.
     It was such a huge contrast compared to just the day before, being dark and sad and grey. This natural lighting made everything feel clean. The air was clean and the blue hue looked so crisp.

aquarium lights

I took the picture of the aquarium at my friends house. I had never been there before and I noticed how they had an entire part of their living room dedicated to aquariums. One thing that caught my eye was that when the living rooms lights were off the aquariums would glow with different colors. The image that I posted specifically caught my attention because the way the aquariums lighting is as if it's only on the fishes. The lighting on the plants seems less bright and more in the background. I also like how the lighting on the fishes make its seem as if the fish has light glowing from the inside. 

Birthday Lights

These are the lights that my mom hangs up every time it's one of our birthdays. They are tiny christmas lights enclosed in plastic ice cream cones. When the lights are on, it looks like the ice cream is glowing. The effect is adorable. These lights are completely decorative and provide very little lighting, and I think that's what makes them so fun. They are completely useless except for providing a soft beacon in the early hours of the morning that says, "TODAY IS YOUR BIRTHDAY!"

Bolboa island

This picture was taken in Bolboa Island, Newport Beach two weeks ago. It was around 5:30pm, the perfect time for sunset.  A lot of stationary yachts sitting at the port created a peaceful  and calm atmosphere; the pinkish natural lighting here incredibly added more colorful and lively elements on the whole landscape. When I was taking the picture, I intentionally made the lighting come from the right corner. First was because it was evening, so the sunlight could only be on the west side. Moreover, if I made the lighting in the middle of the picture, the entire image would be overwhelmed with pink/orangeish color and all objects in the near distance would become less visible. It could still be a good picture of sunset, but sunset would be the only highlight and the whole image and it would not be as nice and pretty as this one.