I joined CB several years ago and lurked for the longest time - finding tons of useful and helpful information. I eventually posted a grand total of two questions over approximately the last three years. But I was just about to respond to another post and realized that I never posted the obligatory new member "Hello" post, so...
Hello!
(Sorry. I just got through reading this stream of consciousness and realized it's much more than just "hello"... and probably more than anyone wants to read. So I considered deleting it and replacing it with a very general synopsis. But then I decided that somebody out there might be really bored or having trouble going to sleep, so I decided to leave it.)
My name is Joel and I'm a computer/IT specialist by profession, but a theater and lighting aficionado by passion. I grew up performing in community and school theater, as well as helping out in technical areas here and there. Eventually I found my way to the lighting booth and found that I really enjoyed it and had a real knack for it - not that I don't have a knack for performing too
, but lighting turned out to be a great marriage of my computer-related skills and analytical side with my artistic and theatrical side. Especially when I moved from my introduction on a 24-scene analog console to community theaters that used the computer based consoles - lots of ETC Express/Expression family. Been' lighting community theater as a hobby ever since (with a little performing still thrown in here and there).
At one point I decided that although I was fairly comfortable with what I had self-taught myself, I decided to get at least some actual technical theater training. Luckily a live near a community college that has an amazing theater department and faculty/staff (including an amazing LD, who is Director of Tech Theater). I took some courses, but by far where I undoubtedly learned the most was OJT working on the school's productions under their leadership - I learned so much just by watching, working with, and following their instructions in mounting those productions. Been' using what they taught me ever since.
Then several years ago I was searching for a new church home and several of the churches I attended where using performance lighting equipment and techniques - which was something I had never experienced before. (I had grown up in a church environment that was more traditional, and churches I had attended up to then basically just used static architectural lighting.) Now I had two passions where I could use my passion for lighting - theater and church. Found my "home" at one of those churches and became their lead lighting volunteer for a while. Including being asked to research an upgrade for the lighting console... right when the grandMA was gaining traction. Been' a grandMA fan ever since, and been' lighting HOW as a volunteer ever since.
I even worked at Vari-Lite/Irideon for a couple of years as a computer programmer. But I came to realize that lighting and theater were my stress relievers from work... but when my work was lighting console related it, my stress relief was reminding me of work instead of helping me forget about work. Been' keeping work and hobbies separate ever since.
Currently I'm the volunteer lighting director for a portable HOW that runs about 500 folks per week. We've got our own small rig of 10 LED strips, 8 LED pars that I run off of grandMA onPC and a 2Port Node (overkill for now, I know... but love the flexibility, gives us room to grow and not have to learn new console, gives free visualization for offline programming during the week, makes life easier when we rent movers for special services). We currently use the manually operated front lighting in the school cafetorium we rent (but, currently working on getting something I can control from the board).
I haven't been doing much theater in the last 4-5 years - not coincidentally almost the same timeframe since my second son was born. Now that he's turning 6 and my oldest is turning 10 I'm probably going to have to have to jump back into it soon.
That's my life story. How's that for a "Hello"?
Hello!
(Sorry. I just got through reading this stream of consciousness and realized it's much more than just "hello"... and probably more than anyone wants to read. So I considered deleting it and replacing it with a very general synopsis. But then I decided that somebody out there might be really bored or having trouble going to sleep, so I decided to leave it.)
My name is Joel and I'm a computer/IT specialist by profession, but a theater and lighting aficionado by passion. I grew up performing in community and school theater, as well as helping out in technical areas here and there. Eventually I found my way to the lighting booth and found that I really enjoyed it and had a real knack for it - not that I don't have a knack for performing too
, but lighting turned out to be a great marriage of my computer-related skills and analytical side with my artistic and theatrical side. Especially when I moved from my introduction on a 24-scene analog console to community theaters that used the computer based consoles - lots of ETC Express/Expression family. Been' lighting community theater as a hobby ever since (with a little performing still thrown in here and there).At one point I decided that although I was fairly comfortable with what I had self-taught myself, I decided to get at least some actual technical theater training. Luckily a live near a community college that has an amazing theater department and faculty/staff (including an amazing LD, who is Director of Tech Theater). I took some courses, but by far where I undoubtedly learned the most was OJT working on the school's productions under their leadership - I learned so much just by watching, working with, and following their instructions in mounting those productions. Been' using what they taught me ever since.
Then several years ago I was searching for a new church home and several of the churches I attended where using performance lighting equipment and techniques - which was something I had never experienced before. (I had grown up in a church environment that was more traditional, and churches I had attended up to then basically just used static architectural lighting.) Now I had two passions where I could use my passion for lighting - theater and church. Found my "home" at one of those churches and became their lead lighting volunteer for a while. Including being asked to research an upgrade for the lighting console... right when the grandMA was gaining traction. Been' a grandMA fan ever since, and been' lighting HOW as a volunteer ever since.
I even worked at Vari-Lite/Irideon for a couple of years as a computer programmer. But I came to realize that lighting and theater were my stress relievers from work... but when my work was lighting console related it, my stress relief was reminding me of work instead of helping me forget about work. Been' keeping work and hobbies separate ever since.
Currently I'm the volunteer lighting director for a portable HOW that runs about 500 folks per week. We've got our own small rig of 10 LED strips, 8 LED pars that I run off of grandMA onPC and a 2Port Node (overkill for now, I know... but love the flexibility, gives us room to grow and not have to learn new console, gives free visualization for offline programming during the week, makes life easier when we rent movers for special services). We currently use the manually operated front lighting in the school cafetorium we rent (but, currently working on getting something I can control from the board).
I haven't been doing much theater in the last 4-5 years - not coincidentally almost the same timeframe since my second son was born. Now that he's turning 6 and my oldest is turning 10 I'm probably going to have to have to jump back into it soon.
That's my life story. How's that for a "Hello"?
