Pro-Activity

Creating art while working inside client-imposed limitations can be more difficult than coloring inside the lines of an M.C. Escher painting. Constraints would seem like the last thing you’d want or need while embarking on a creative project, but they’re actually beneficial when it comes to doing beautiful work. We all know what it’s like to be paralyzed by a mountain of insurmountable options and opportunities. Restrictions take away some of the choices available to us, and with them, the fear of making the wrong choice. Working within the confines of artist restrictions can be taxing, but with these few ideas, I hope to make it minimally more palatable.

Guiding Light Through the Darkness By Chris Lose What can we do as lighting professionals to save lives? It is with the heavies...

A Tale of Lighting, Confusion and Pandas in the Land of the Red Dragon Lighting direction has taken me all over the world for some extravagant gigs in far-off lands. I have been asked what it’s like to travel for work in so many foreign countries. I can tell you that, for the most part, it is similar to what you are used to. It’s just the same loading dock in a different country. The food is a little different, the money is a different color and the stagehands speak only slightly less English than at home.

“When you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all.” —God (from the Futurama Season Three episode 20, which was titled “Godfellas.”) “When you mess up, people race to post it on social media.” —Chris Lose

A good LD lights where the guitarist is supposed to be. A great LD lights where the guitarist is going to be. I recently moved from Las Vegas to Canada for a number of reasons. One reason for moving is the current political climate in the U.S. Canada has proven to be very polite and rather pleasant. I moved to a small community where my services as a concert lighting director might not be in high demand. Belle River does not have any casinos, convention centers, ballrooms or arenas. But it does have hockey rinks — lots of them.

I'm a firm believer that people who have spent time in the shop have a better understanding of the lighting business than those who have not. I am lucky enough to have spent four knuckle-busting years in the shops of Vari*Lite, Morpheus and Cinelease. I was there to receive hand written shop orders, assemble gear, tech lights and repair rain-drenched VL6s and Mac 2Ks that came back from multiple Olympics from around the globe.