Inspiration I Found in Real Life

We consume so much media on screen that it starts to shape everything. When I get a lookbook from a director, most of the reference images are pulled from other movies or video stills. References are great for getting inspired, but sometimes they quietly pressure you into just recreating someone else's image rather than making your own. I've noticed that when I get non movie references like paintings or abstract art, it actually pushes me toward something more original. So in my daily life, I try to keep my eyes open for lighting and color inspiration everywhere and here's one I ran into yesterday.

I was at an event hall location for a shoot and wandered into one of the rooms on my way to the bathroom. The stained glass in there stopped me. There are so many ways to get colorful, interesting images on camera, but when light passes through a physical object in real life, it produces something that feels genuinely believable in a way that a colored LED just can't fully replicate. The random gradation from lighter blue to white to deeper blue, the mix of red and blue and whatever else was in that glass all bleeding together created such an original and unpredictable color that no lighting kit could just dial in.

What things in the real world have inspired you lately? Leave a comment!