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Mailing List From Website We have removed your email address from our list. We're sorry to see you go. Was this a mistake? Did you forward one of our emails to a friend, and they clicked the unsubscribe link not realizing they were in fact unsubscribing you from this list? If this was a mistake, you can re-subscribe at: Subscribe For questions or comments, please contact us at: jp@jamesbedell.com

December News - Happy Holidays from James Bedell

Psst. After a year of vistors to my website submitting email addresses and days combing my address book, this is my very first email newsletter. In it you'll find out what I've been working on, find out about a special discount and see some project highlights. I hope you enjoy.  Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. December 2012 Happy Holidays From Lighting Design By James Bedell 2012 has been a wild year for many of us. The tragedy of Hurricane Sandy should give us all pause and help us to reflect on what's truly important. Personally, I couldn't be more thankful for my family, friends and all of the wonderful opportunities 2012 has brought my way. It's been a big year for my little venture. My first complete calendar year as an independent lighting designer has seen some incredible high points. This year I was fortunate enough to... Light The Jersey Couture Pop-Up Beauty Bar for MKG Productions. Light the Google / Hollywood Reporter Party for the White House Correspondent's Dinner Go To London as part of BlogTour! Light the Halloween Room of Holiday House NYC Release Lightstagram - a collection of instagram photos that inspire my work. Lightstagram! Just in time for the holidays, I've together a coffee table book full of photos that I took with Instagram. It's called Lightstagram and the idea behind it is simple. When I design projects I try to draw on inspiring lighting I encounter in the real world. Whether that's the sunlight reflecting off skycrapers or the shadows leaves cast in the early morning.  The book is available at blurb as either a print on demand soft/hardcover book or a downloadable PDF. I hope you consider it for yourself, or as a gift for the interior designer, architect, or creative in your life. Project of the Month - Press Event for the Carlton Hotel The Carlton Hotel is a revered NYC institution. Like all great organizations it's always in a state of renewal, so when it came time to announce the creation of four themed suites throughout the hotel, the team at DKC Incite looked to me to "punch up" the existing lighting and help create a lasting impression for editors and members of the press. The event was an enormous success as visitors entered the amazing billiard suite, then snuck away into the speakeasy before meeting a broadway diva. On a tight timeline we put this event together to rave reviews.  In This Issue Happy Holidays from Lighting Design by James Bedell Lightstagram Project of the Month - Press Event at the Carlton Hotel Let's Work Together With over a decade's worth of experience spanning flagship retail, high-end residential, corporate events and NYC theater - Lighting Design By James Bedell has the skills and knowledge necessary to create inspired lighting for your next project on-time and on budget. Whether you need some simple consultation or you're looking for a complete lighting design, please feel free to contact me any time. Mention this newsletter and receive a 10% discount on my already affordable rates.  Follow All the Lighting Chatter Facebook Twitter

Copyright © 2012 JPB Lighting, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up for the mailing list on jamesbedell.com, or because I know you and really really like you. Our mailing address is: JPB Lighting 2231 36th Street Astoria, NY 11105 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

LEDucation II

The Designers Lighting Forum of NY and the IES are presenting a conference next month, March 12th call LEDucation II. It promises to be a forum for lighting designers and others to educate on LED's, show off gear and hopefully talk about control. I for one plan on being there, as LED production and control has come up often enough this past year for me to interested.

Control Protocol

So I can't drop project names because of privacy issues. But I'm
working on a space that combines architectural lighting with some
entertainment lighting features and the issue of the week has become
finalizing control.

The Crestron system programmer ran through the limitations of the DMX
512 protocol that our dimming system employs for some if the
intelligent lighting we included in the design. From his point of view
the biggest disadvantage to DMX protocol is the lack of two way
communication between the controlling processor and the fixtures. DMX
is essentially a by-state control protocol. Meaning, all a control
station can do is send a percentage signal down every single address
in its pervue all the time. It cannot recieve information back down
the one way street of its data path.

So as the worlds of architectural and entertainment lighting converge
with the realms of video and more sophisticated levels of intuitive
control, is it time to bring intelligent lighting to more open more
easily maintained standard? And if so what?

James Bedell
917-225-9183

Color temperature

So for those curious about the real effects of color temperature on
lighting, I found a great, though unfortunate example today.

In this image you can see identical fixtures used for under-cabinet
lighting in a kitchen. One is lamper with a "cool white" fluorescent,
the other a "warm white." it's important to note that when I took this
photo, the midday sun was pouring though the window directly behind
me. See how this makes the cool lamp seem much more white and the warm
lamp look much more orange.

I think I'm a consultant

So here I am at the Harwood Center at C.W. Post on Long Island. I am
helping the Immersion Dance Company. I'm not exactly sure of my role
tonight. I think I'm the visual consultant. The lights are
predesigned. The cue are prewritten. I'm not sure what I can do but
make suggestions.

A home depot bought CFL

CFL in the NY times

So as if the Times was reading my blog, which I assure you they are not, a big article on CFL technology and the recent energy bill. Take a look here it's mostly a negative take based on tests that I feel don't really do the light source justice. But I think it's worth noting anyway.

See you soon.

Intelligent White From Color Kinetics

While I hate shilling for particular products and brands. Color Kinetics (now owned by Philips) continues to push LED technology. The image shown here is an LED cove product boasting a new Intelligent White lighting system. The virtue of this system is the LED's can shift color (and I would assume brightness) from warm white (designated at 3000k) to cool (designated 6500k). The Achilles heel seems to be that the power supply and controller must be a proprietary CK controller which means no native DMX or third party controller. Still, the ability to mix white in field after the installation is an interesting one. I will do some research and see if anyone has had any luck using these in the field.

Things you can do at Home

Sometimes I am asked by friends and family if there are any things one can do at home to improve their energy consumption. In terms of lighting, there are some things that you can do right away without major household renovation. This post will focus mostly on compact fluorescent lighting.

First and foremost, follow your parent's rules and turn off lights in rooms you're not in.

Secondly, replace the common A-lamp style light bulbs you're probably using with screw in compact fluorescent. They are available at most local hardware stores and certainly at the big chains like Home Depot and Lowes. Not to delve too deeply into the compact fluorescent, but many people instantly gasp at the idea of their living room being lit by a fluorescent source. A few things, I would recommend.

Compact Fluorescent (CFL) lamps come in many shapes and sizes now. No longer are you stuck with the unsightly curly-q lamps with the exposed coil. Most manufactures make a version with a plastic dome, that both softens the quality of the light and leaves the primary source hidden. There are also CFL's build with candelabra bases for your sconces and smaller fixtures. I even got my parents to install CFL flood lights outside, which even to this day my father raves about.

There are some things to be aware of when considering CFL light bulbs for your household fixtures. First and foremost is shape and look (mentioned above). But second and just as important is the color temperature of the given light bulb. Without bogging down in the science of color temperature, I will sum it up this way. Color temperature describes the relative "whiteness" of the light source. For instance, a candle would be considered a very "warm" light source, the sun on a bright day a very "cool" source. Incandescent light bulbs (the kind we are used to) are fairly warm. They burn a filament generating a typical color temperature of around 2700 degree kelvin, while the sun at midday is around 5000 degrees kelvin. Why is all of this important? Because a standard CFL comes in a color temperature similar to the sun and even cooler (5600 kelvin). This is useful if you are lighting say, a retail store and want your overhead light to be similar to that of the sunlight streaming in from the bay window. But in typical home applications lamps and other fixtures will be on in the evening and at night when a warmer tone is desired. Look for CFL lamps with a color temperature of anywhere from 2500 to 3200 degrees kelvin. Many manufacturer's are simplifying these temperature readings by marking the package "daylight" (5600k) or "incandescent" (2500-3000k).

Another tip, some manufacturers are boasting "dimmable" CFL lamps. Again, to shorten what could be a a very long discussion. Fluorescent lights dim by means of their ballast which reduces the amount of electricity igniting the gas inside the tube. Manufacturers are embedding small, and cheap ballasts in the bases of their CFL's to allow them to dim on typical household dimmers. I've tested several brands of dimmable CFL and they return similar results, flickering and color shift is very common. I would recommend for at least the time being staying away from these.

When possible, using CFL's with a shade will hide and warm the light source. I have had CFL's in my house now for years and guests never know the difference.

A few other things to consider. When you turn on a CFL it doesn't come to it's full brightness immediately like an incandescent lamp. Rather, it takes time for the gas in the coil to heat completely and come to full bright. Some find this annoying, others like the lighting ramping up.

Most importantly when it comes to CFL technology for nearly know sacrifice in lighting quality you get a huge energy and sustainability boost. For one thing a typical 60 watt incandescent light bulb gives off as much light as a 13 watt CFL. For another an incandescent light bulb lasts usually 6 months. A CFL-up to 7 years! That's sustainability.




I hope this was helpful. Be back soon.

Greenland's Ice is Slipping Away

In yet another sign of global warming, scientists are scrambling to determine the rate of melting and whether or not it is accelerating. Take a look at this article in the NY Times, for more information. CO2 emissions from industry and personal consumption are the major factor driving climate change worldwide. As lighting professionals it is our duty to take lighting design and sustainability and make them concurrent, not competing forces. It is possible as technology improves to actually create excellent lighting without consuming overwhelming amounts of power.

New Energy Standards

Hello All,

So one my resolutions for 2008 was to actually keep up with my blog(s) and so here I am. Although this post is a cheap-y. Congress recently passed the The Energy Independence and Secuity Act of 2007. The doesn't directly tackle lighting issues, but there are some provisions that directly effect lighting. Lighting Controls Associates posted a great explanation of the law and what it will me for lighting professionals as well as general consumers in the coming years. Take a look here.

Repatch for CPF

In clearing out some of my CPF content I found the following video. Repatching for the Crown Point Festival meant leaving the light board, perched in the back of the balcony and running down to the patch bay stage right. Sometimes a repatch had to be done in as little as 5 minutes...take a look.

All in the family

So when you're an LD, even one transitioning into the architecture world, you usually have precious little opportunity to bring your skills forth to your family and friends. Well I got my chance Thanksgiving weekend. My father chaired the Annual St. Andrew Avellino Dinner Dance an annual fundraiser for the parish where I grew up. Between the hometown connections and my father's dedication I was destined to be involved somehow. Then couple it with the new venue. The Great Hall, at the New York Hall of Science and I knew even on a shoestring budget, we could make the space a room for an elegant affair. Take a look at these photos, I hope you agree.

Now leaving Crown Point

Hey all,

So the Crown point festival is long over. It has taken me a full two
weeks to recover from the draining process the festival was. In the
end it was 40 straight days going to the Abrons Art Center from the
beginning of load in to the end of strike. I couldn't be happier to
regain my daily life. And simply work my job with Tirschwell and
company.

Dispatch from the Crown Point Festiva

Hey all,

So I know I've been incredibly remiss in my blogging lately. You see
my life has been wholly swallowed by the Crown Point festival. I will
attempt to encapsulate the entire insanity that has been the festival.

The ambitious and tight schedule we set out for in tech proved to be
both a blessing and a curse. It got us through our goals as far as
tech went. But at the same time we found ourselves getting cut short
by the relentless schedule. This proved to be incredibly problematic.
Only our shortest shows got to actually run in the space before they
opened for the public. All else, well they were forced to having a
show completely teched but never run in real time in the space. Some
shows didn't get fully teched at all.

James Bedell
917-225-9183

Crown Point Rolls on

Hello All,

So I am a terrible blogger. It has been forever since my last post. I have good excuses however....my real job with Tirschwell and Co. has been extremely busy lately. If that weren't enough my little production company Lively Arts Productions hosted a presentation of it's musical Ethan Frome this week...read up on that at here.

So what about Crown Point? Well through some diligent research I've found a ROBE rep named Dave Middleton who put me in touch with Chris Reagan of BML Blackbird here in the tri-state area. We are working to hammer out an affordable package.

Set his against the background that we are 17 days from load-in. I've had design meetings with every show and I've had full-fledge production meetings with many of them. I now have the chance to set pen to paper on the plot and move things forward.

The newest storm clouds on the horizon. Our labor budget is minimal for the show. The plan was to supplement the labor force with unpaid or low-paid interns and PA's. That staff has yet to materialize. So now its time to hit the websites recruiting load-in and tech help on the electrics side. Students willing to work for the opportunity to learn.

Know Anybody?

Gear and Crossing Over

Moving from Entertainment Lighting to Architectural has been an interesting transition. One of the things that you have to get used to almost immediately is what decisions become so important on the Architectural side, are hardly after thoughts on the theatrical side. In Architecture, details matter, really matter. From the lamp-type, to shielding and lensing right down to the color and shape on the flange, the level of detail in selection is incredibly important to pleasing your design team and clients.

Sometimes a project lends itself to more theatricality. For a nightclub project my office is working on, I got to pull out an old favorite tool of mine. The product is called NEOFLEX, I was first exposed to it on the set of Inside the Actor's Studio, lighting designer Jeff Burns used a continuous run of it to underlight the talent-platform. Needing a similar effect in the club I was able to pull it from the back of my mind, and it in all likely hood will end up accenting our club.

Of course that's not the only ghost of my lighting past that is making it into the night club. To light a performance stage some of the structural/decorative elements of the room, we are turning to an LED Wash Light solution. This one, I have used before in theatrical applications and on photo shoots. The SPECTRA PAR, by Altman lighting, is going to get employed in a more permanent way on this job.

This is the crossing over of entertainment and architectural lighting. And knowing enough about the tools that make them different and the same. When thinking about lighting the stage, I remembered back to the results I got with the Spectra lighting people....

It seemed like the right idea.

Crown Point, Gearing Up-Pairing Down

Gear selection is a problem. The budget for Crown Point is tight. Here's the situation. The space has a lighting stock of about 50 Source Four fixtures ranging from 36 to 19 degree. They also carry 30 PAR 64's all WFL. There are 36 dimmers in this antique space. These have varying, large capacities, and are re-patched using a patch bay with sliders.

That system would be entirely adequate, if not for my needing to light a new musical act every night and create a comprehensive lighting design. For budgetary and, thankfully, artistic reasons I have really tied whatever lighting elements I pull in for environmental design to the music element. I think in the scope of the festival they share the same space for an audience member, they both represent living art the audience gets to actively participate in; whereas film, and to a much lesser extent theatre are more passive mediums. Thus the design for the environment and music need to be more alive, more personal, and more organic. To me this takes the design to a place where the entire theatre can change it's depth and form, but we can also choose to focus on individual musicians or points of interest on the stage or in the house.

There is simply not enough room in the budget for an LED and a Moving light solution. To level with everyone, my total gear budget for Crown Point is $3500, for a five week period. 4wall entertainment gave me an excellent quote on a dream package that is still about $3000 over what I can afford, before perishables.

I am going to try and pair down, it looks like renting additional dimming is out of the question and its going to be a PA’s job to run the re-patch for every play. Budget and toys are really all about resources and if we lack funding in one place we can make up for it with man-power. I hope we have lots of man-power.

Macbeth

When not ruminating on producing decisions, in my copious spare time I create lighting for theatre. ShakespeareNYC's production of Macbeth is currently running at The Beckett theater of NY's theatrerow. Despite a challenging production calendar, the show is up and looking pretty good. I wanted to share some images I have taken by Fight Choreographer and photographer, Al Foote.

Macbeth is one of my favorite plays in Shakespeare's cannon. Lighting can be created purely based on character point of view. And from there you can drive from a visual library of your own choosing. Lady Macbeth's drive to power and manipulation of her husband. Macbeth's desire to rule and his hubris, these are discussed intimately by the characters, and they can be displayed in the visual arc of the show.

As always for ShakespeareNYC, Macbeth was directed by Beverly Bullock. Her allowance for visual freedom and her fearless direction to me (it can be very dark), drove me to create a visual field of saturated color and deep contrast. While I would never call myself a designer based on subtlety, Macbeth allows for even more visual freedom. Brandon Giles set is a stark, blank canvas of floating material and black frames shaped in a flowing arc. This gave ultimate opportunity for freedom and creativity from scene to scene.



Here's some of that work.