Week 10 - Kristin Goodell - Café Cultura - Obsession

 

    Ever since I first went in 2021, I have been obsessed with Cafe Cultura. Cafe Cultura is a contemporary Mexican cafeteria with locations in downtown Santa Ana and Azusa. I love their cajeta french toast, hot chocolate, and polvoron. It's my favorite place to go for brunch, and my partner always brings me here when I need cheering up or to celebrate joyous milestones. When we went to the Santa Ana location last week, I was admiring the lighting of the cafe. It was warm and intimate. The amber lights and red neon signs fit in with the color palette of their business signage and exposed red brick walls. I particularly loved the warm white star lanterns hanging from the cieling. The spotlights on the wall highlighted the artwork, as well as special decorations hung for Christmas. Despite being bustling with customers for Sunday brunch, the warm lighting and beautiful star fixtures created a cozy, inviting environment that was intimate for the patrons having brunch with their loved ones.  

Week 10, Daisy Santos, Fall - Obsession

 

There are multiple areas on campus that have beautiful scenery and lighting during different parts of the day that fuel my obsession of taking pictures of what's in front of me. Intense, powerful, and captivating sentiments created by moments then contribute to why I take picture in the first place. Therefore, my blog post for this week on obsession will be the in support of the photo above.

Features in the environment such as the trees, grass, sky, buildings, etc., are soften and illuminated by the sunlight. For example, the burgundy color of the trees, the illumination of one side of the grass and not the other, and the puffy/scattered orange-ish clouds in the sky portray such a relaxing, alluring, and captivating sight. It's a perfect picture of the fall season with it's orange, burgundy, and green colors in addition to its cold weather. Characteristics such as those that makes the scenery all the more intense, powerful, and captivating then contribute to why individuals such as myself (and even photographers) are obsessed with taking pictures of the moments in front of them. It's also kind of ironic how this picture is the perfect representation of fall and that is my favorite season.

Week 10 - Maia Lucas - Forest scape - Obsession

 

Above is a photo that I've been obsessed with this week. It was taken during tech for the Student Voices Project, as the projector was being set up. Although it was just Jayde's computer background and not a projection actually used in the show, it made me think so much about how projection and lighting can be used to light more than just the stage in a theater. I've recently been very drawn to more ideas of immersive theater. I think using lighting and projections on the audience space (similar to how Jimmy lit the walls pre-show in Cabaret) is a great way to introduce audience members to the world of a performance. 

With this projection, the lighting mood reads very much like a forest at nighttime, which sets a scene for audience members. Throughout the quarter, we've discussed different ways lighting design evokes certain emotions and associations from people. To me, this setting reads isolated, yet serene. I'm designing a show next quarter (for sound, not lighting), and I think ideas like this type of immersivity are applicable across so many areas of design. I would love to ultimately lighting design for a show that uses immersive audience lighting to enhance the world we see onstage. 

Week 10 - Jayde Farmer - Ephemera -Obsession

 

I've been to the store Ephemera in Idyllwild many MANY times. I am obsessed with collecting vintage toys, trinkets, clothes, and posters. For some, the overpacked and colorful shelves may seem overwhelming, but I love the I-Spy nature of "discovering" something cool. I have spent way WAY too many hours here with my friends looking at stuff, I think it fits the bill of obsession. Going into the store last weekend, I noticed the lighting of the store more than I had before. Their hallmark neon sign draws you in the the first. It also bleeds into the store in a nice way. The florescent lighting that fills the store is boring on its own, but each section is filled with interesting lights/lamps that draw you in. They add the the colorful funkiness by mixing in LED light bulbs in different colors. They also guide through through the store and invite you to look closer at different sections. I this this was a great way to fit the vibe of the store by compensating for the lackluster overhead lighting. I would recommend checking out this store if you ever have the opportunity to, it is stuffed to the brim with cool stuff.

Week 10 - Logan Brubaker - Clouds - Obsession

 

Week 10's prompt was obsession. The first blog post I did was about the sky. I discussed how much I loved the sky and it's beauty in conveying light and shadow. Well, then I struggled for every other blog post to not post more pictures of the sky. I wanted to challenge myself to find beauty in other places thatI had to look for and search out. However, I am still absolutely obsessed with the sky. When you can look up at something that at first glance appears 2D, but then when your eyes focus, expands into a 3D masterpiece painting, there is nothing like it. I took this photo from the Mesa parking garage. You can see the clouds curling over each other, light from a source of light (the sun) on the left. However, the sun is low enough that it is pointing almost directly on the sides of the clouds. There are no shadows of clouds on the ground, nothing is blocking the sun as it shines down. With the sun used as a shin would be in this photo, we see how the clouds are carved out on the background not only of the blue but of the other clouds as well. The sky is something that I could look at forever, and I am glad I got to discuss it and my obsession with it again.

Week 8- Maia Lucas- Irvine Spectrum- Site Specific

This weekend I visited Irvine Spectrum Center. I found the lighting design particularly interesting since they recently added some of their holiday season decor. From my past experience of Irvine Spectrum, the lighting design tends to lean very warm-toned and modern, giving a high-quality feel and making guests feel like they are in a very nice, inviting, and expensive environment. I feel that the intent was to give the space a high-end yet welcoming feel, not only encouraging guests to shop there, but also to encourage stores of value to bring more properties there. Even if all the stores there are not necessarily 'high-end', shoppers want to feel like they are shopping somewhere classy, so this lighting helps to add to their experience. Rather than going very traditionally colorful with their holiday decor, they keep even the festive bits very sleek and modern looking, with all mono-toned warm light. Additionally, some of the lighting draws attention to the Southern California setting, with palm trees being accentuated with string lights (as pictured in the first photo).

Store 1: Kevin Jewelers

A store that I think had unsuccessful overall lighting was Kevin Jewelers. I think the intent was to have high visibility in the store so as to draw potential customers to the sparkly jewelry. However, there are just too many different types of lighting in the store, and it makes it sort of difficult to know where to look. The store has 3 types of lighting on the ceiling (recess lights, track lights, and hanging lamps), as well as bright bars of cool-toned LED lights within the jewelry cases. The store is also filled with glass cases and screens, so the light feels even more reflected. It overall feels washed out, and the warm and cool tones aren't working together in the design much. 

Store 2: Chilli Beans

A store that I think had very successful overall lighting was Chilli Beans, a store that specializes in sunglasses. Ironically, the two stores had some similar lighting designs, with 2 types of ceiling light and a mix of warm and cool tones. However, Chilli Beans really utilized the 2 different tones of lighting to highlight different parts of the store. The cool-toned lights reflect well on the white walls, making the store look sleek and high-end. Meanwhile, there are small lights positioned over each pair of sunglasses on the wall, and the contrasted warm light makes them really pop. Your eyes in the store are immediately drawn to the merchandise, rather than the entirety of the store. 

Week 8, Austin Geordge, Irvine Spectrum - Site Specific

 

I visited Irvine Spectrum a good amount over the past few weeks and have been keenly aware of the lighting. Generally I like the overall lighting at night, especially once they put the lights up on the trees but my first photo really stuck out to me. They put the tree up extremely early in my opinion and it has been drawing my eyes every time that I am there. That is a good thing but it still wows me how quickly it went up and makes me wonder how they coordinated everything and got the lights on it working in essentially a single night.

The photo is not particularly great but the store that I thought succeeded was Lush. The sign is bright and you are able to see it from a distance, but the inside is a nice mix of warm and cool lighting that feels very welcoming and it makes me want to shop there. Because of this I think the designers were successful. 

The store that I think failed is American Eagle. The photo doesn't quite show it, but the sign is very dark and if I didn't know what the store was I would not have been able to tell what the sign said until I was much closer to it. This fact is disappointing because the inside of the store is much brighter and draws someone in really well. The layout of the inside is done well in order for there to be a great amount of light. The reason this store fails is because there is no draw to it when you can't even read the sign from more than a few feet away.