Magic lights

Greetings yall! Among my many subjects of obsession, lights and lighting have always been way up there on my list. In fact, i try to put an effervescent quality in every piece of artwork that i do, and the fixation on colors in general is pretty prominent throughout my life. This is not a huge and in depth study on lighting or anything. Just a few pics and brief musings on their beauty and usage :)

The harsh light of day is very uncomfortable for my eyes, so i tend to not go out much, well that is one of the reasons anyway. But a nightime city scape is magical to me. I enjoy the almost otherworldly aesthetic of towering dark structures, each with hundreds of little pinpoints of light. Some of those lights are actually windows, but are vital parts of the shimmering composition. The night time is also a more calm time to roam, because it is less noisy in addition to being less aggressive on the eyes.

These xmas lights are strung up in a pine tree in the darkness outside my previous home, or at least they were. The motion blur was not actually intentional, because i was a much less experienced photog when i shot this pic. Regardless, i quite like how the image turned out. In fact i daresay the motion blur adds something cool! When lights of multiple colors are randomly strewn in this way, it is deeply evocative of xmas, and all the warmth that it brings. Most people love the gifts or food above all other things xmas, but for me it is all about the lights :D 

(and yes i called it xmas on purpose, because i am a proud non-christian, but i can still love all the colorful trappings of xmas right???...p.s...HAPPY HOLLIDAYS....ya that's right...i said it...)

Complicated is not ALWAYS best. This single colored strand of lights strung along the corners of a room can add much depth to it, without being the least bit distracting. By limiting the number of colors to a single favorite, and without overdoing it on the quantity, one can truly change the feeling of a room on a very limited budget. Let us not forget that atmosphere, along with many other things, is often best enjoyed simplistically. Add too much and you shatter the delicate subtlety of a thing...

Speaking of subtlety, these things are NOT subtle, but they can be quite enjoyable nonetheless. Unfortunately i can not enjoy these for very long, as the repeated color flashes tend to mess with my head after a while. But for brief periods, i find less subtle lighting schemes to be rather enjoyable. One of my favorite memories of all time was a Pink Floyd show in the nineties (Division bell tour). The show was exquisite, and featured a vast array of lights and lasers. Yes i felt like my head was spinning and that i would puke towards the end of the night...but damn if it wasn't the coolest thing ever!

Lighting has been an important part of my life for as long as i can recall. I am pretty sure that even as a small child, my favorite thing about certain places and times of year was the lighting. It has a direct and instant effect on my mood, and can either ruin or greatly improve an entire room for me. I used to lay under the xmas tree as a kid and stare up through the tree, marveling at the colorful spectacle before me. At the time, i did not realize it, but i was beginning a life long obsession with lights and lighting, one that i am certain will remain a part of me for ever.

All photos are from my own collection. There are many more photos and original digital artworks at http://robotlizzzrd.deviantart.com/

Thanks for reading :)