More pics here.

This past week I got to light Godspell put on by Faith Christian School in Grapevine, TX.  The director of arts there is also my former youth pastor, Scott Werntz, who also runs a non-profit that serves and ministers to youth around the globe.  Scott was able to acquire set piece and costumes from a real Broadway show for this; and he did an incredible job transforming the ‘little black box’ theater into a run-down apartment building in New York.

This was my fourth production with these kids; and they are just a blast.  A few guys from the Dallas Summer Musicals showed up one night and were blown away.  Such a fun group of kids! 

Lighting the show was one of the most fun and interesting yet.  There were 9 windows plus a door that all needed to be lit individually, and isolated from the rest of the set.  Given the angles and line of sight for the audience, this meant getting creative as to where to put the fixtures.  Some of the lights were right above the audience’s heads.  Yikes.

We ended up have (8), 8-foot truss towers around the room, each with a Mac 550 moving light.  On the stage, 16 Coemar PARLite LEDs for color candy.  Add in about 24 Source Four ellipsoidals, and we’ve got a pretty sweet show for the room size. 

Oh, and a Hog 3.

Remember in elementary school when your teacher would give you those little personality worksheets, and most of the time they had a question asking “What do you want to do when you grow up?”

At the time, my dad was a paint contractor. So, I always put “painter.”  I loved painting; I would paint model planes, cars, ships; you name it.  Sometimes while painting those models I would paint the surface I was building it on.  (The parents loved that; they encouraged the creativity.)

But, as I grew up and got into tech; I began to forget that “painter” side of me.  I began to think I wanted to be a moving light tech, or an A/V installer, which I still love doing, but I remember realizing that that wasn’t supposed to be the main focus of my life, but rather a support to the main thing.

I look back on the journey God has taken me on so far, and I love seeing how all those little personality worksheet answers stating “painter” were true all along.  I just use a different medium than dad.

The cool thing is when I began to realize how much of a balance I have in me of tech and art.  Each supports the other in everything I do.  I love being able to see both sides of a production or worship element.  The Why and the How.

If you listen to someone’s passions and hobbies when they were a kid, you can usually find many parallels between then and what they are doing now. 

At least; that’s what I hope for them. 

I guess when you are a kid you don’t have any mental or imaginative limits, so you dream what you want.  As you grow up, you start to feel the reality of life creep in and put limits on what you think you can do.

What did you want to be when you were young and answering that question?  How does that play into what you are doing now? 

First Baptist Church in Coppell, Texas has one the most incredible displays of environmental projection yet!  Using 5 projectors, we were able to create a seamless image, 30′ tall, 180-degrees around.  Stand anywhere in the room, and your entire peripherally vision is covered with imagery.

Some members of the church commented after being used for the first time on Sunday.  They said it helped bring the room in tighter, and made it feel much more intimate.  How cool is that?!  And how interesting!  We are using larger than life imagery that surrounds, and brings you in closer with the people around you.  It connects and engages. 

If you are in the DFW area, you must take the time experience it!  Send me an email and I’ll personally take you over to see it.  More pics to come!

Making these look life-like is a little challenging without a 360-viewer, but I think you get the idea.  These pictures really don’t do it justice.  These were taken off center of the room.

Before Thanksgiving I travelled down to the MET in Houston, TX for Seminars4Worship put on by Integrity Music.  I got to VJ during all the main worship sessions and the concert, as well as share my heart on environmental projection and imagery during the Worship Space breakout.  Greg Moore from ProGear Warehouse spoke on lighting as wel.  It was a blast to work everyone else that was apart of the event.  They all had a lot of heart; and they always remembered to keep the main thing the main thing.

I got my hands on (3) 5000 lumen Panasonic projectors, and the environmental projection turned out GREAT.  The MET had these panels covered in fabric above stage that worked perfect as an abstract projection surface.  (What’s up with all the frames lately?)

My favorite part was hearing from the church leaders that attended how much they learned and were able to take back to their church.  Most were a part of churches with 500 or lessin attendance.  I love that.  They came to learn and grow, and that’s what happened.  I love hearing exactly where that specific church community is in regards to visual worship, and then find ways for them to expand; most of the time for FREE.  Sometimes the most powerful and effective tools in visual worship are free.

A friend of mine got married recently, and I was able to do some environmental projection for them.  It was a hit!  It was held in the worship office space at Irving Bible Church, and so I created an image for the bride and groom and had it projected on a concrete wall throughout the ceremony. 

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving; I spent the week in the mountains of Colorado at Horn Creek Family Camp.  Simply beautiful.  What a humble reminder of who we serve.

I brought a projector (or three) just in case there was a chance to do some environmental projection.  I ended up just using one for movie night, but ran into an interesting technical issue.  Apparently these Hitachi’s have a pressure sensor.  I kept getting a “Check Air Flow” warning.  (Which means the projector will shut down soon after)  In an huge room where it’s maybe 70 degrees?  Hmm.  Not enough air at 8000 feet!  I had to take the air filter out and stick a fan blowing on the intake fans.  I guess I can’t use these in space…

You can see the center screen masked out, the steps, all the doors, as well as the stage and cloud above it.  It turned out great!

This is one of the most cost-effective, widest, most amazingly beautiful displays of environmental projection in a church yet…stay tuned for final pictures!

 In process of mask-mapping.  This shows only 2/3rds of the projection.

I can’t wait until I can use a few of these.