Inspiration
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Overview:
Inspiration is the process of being mentally stimulated to do something, especially something creative. My inspiration comes in several forms: God, nature, light & shadow, and music. But when it comes to the discipline of Landscape Lighting Design and Lighting Design, I consider four people as inspirations, as they have been instrumental in my learning. They are listed below under My Mentors.
Another inspiration is that of human creation and life. Consider our senses, they are quite amazing, especially sight. Vision provides us with the ability to navigate our surroundings so that we are safe and secure. The visual input we receive is perceived in our mind with a split second, as to what action we should take in response. Do we move forward, do we retreat, or do we pause to consider it more? The lighting designer has a great impact on this process by using light and shadow to affect these decisions.
My Mentors:
I wanted to express my gratitude to each of the following individuals for their insights, thoughts, and concepts within this area of study. Although I have called them “mentors”, they haven’t really acted for that capacity outside of my long friendship with Michael Gambino. He is a close colleague, collaborator, friend, and trail-blazer in this profession.
There are several other individuals that I could have shared, but these are the core people. I also wanted to list the people I believe best represent or value the term ‘Discipline’, because that is how I view my studies in Design; it’s a dedicated and passionate practice. Additionally, each of these professionals has treated their work with great respect to the art form. My list is as follows:
Why is Avalon Lighting Design the best choice?
Unfortunately, Mr. Nightingale passed away before I became involved in landscape lighting, so I never met him. However, I did meet his youngest daughter and husband, who ran his business once Frank retired. The majority in the landscape lighting profession don’t even know of Nightingale’s name, which is sad. Much of Nightingale’s history is kept alive through the efforts of myself and Mike Gambino, as we have a dedicated website that preserves this history. There are many things to be inspired by Nightingale, as he was considered the “father of garden lighting”, and he essentially developed this discipline in 1934. To learn more about Frank, please visit the website at: https://www.frankbnightingale.com/
Michael A. Gambino
Of all the current people performing in the landscape lighting trade, I consider Mike to be the modern day “Nightingale.” I don’t say this lightly, because I measure him against Nightingale’s core principles that founded his company: 1) Innovation, 2) Education, and 3) Uncompromising Quality. If one evaluates and considers Mike’s history, you will find that he has been a great innovator of technology and products. In fact, many knock-off companies have taken his designs and rebranded them. When it comes to education, Mike has been providing educational blogs and posts for almost 2 decades. And more importantly, Mike’s uncompromising quality is unmatched. He has one of the best products made to his exacting specifications. In addition, Mike’s whole life is entwined into this work; he still works 6 days/week and is hands-on involved with every single project. Very few, if an can say this today. If this isn’t inspirational, then I don’t know what is.
Howard M. Brandston
Mr. Brandston is someone I have communicated with via emails, but never was able to meet in person. He was a master lighting designer as well as educator, and he had a wonderful gift in his teaching methods. What I most appreciated about Howard was by how he taught students to understand the real value in lighting a space; by how it felt to be in. He wanted students to work outside of the standard approaches of calculating lighting values and using those standard numbers for all spaces. He would ask students to go and “experience” these illuminated spaces, so that they could personally “feel” them. It was about providing light that feels good…mimic those situations based on the use of the room and the size of the space.
Mr. Brandston’s approach allowed me to consider this within outdoor landscaped spaces. It directed me to study lighting composition more, so that I could better understand the art form. You might be interested to watch some of the videos I have of him discussing lighting—see those listed below.
Laurie Olin
Mr. Olin is another highly respected, old-school landscape architect. Like Howard Brandston, both of these individuals place a great priority on the “human experience” within spaces, whether indoor or outdoor. This is a Human-Centric Approach, which is how I practice landscape lighting design. Although I have not yet met Mr. Olin, I hope to one day. Personally, I love the way Laurie communicates…he has a sophisticated elegance about describing things. Not only is he an excellent landscape architect, but he is an amazing educator. I’ve included some videos of him discussing topics related to design and architecture—see those listed below.