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PL & P : In terms of lighting design and related work , how different is your schedule and overall professional life now than before the pandemic ?
Ishdeep Bhogal : It ’ s a major difference in dynamic . The way the hours in a day flow , it all feels apprehensive because of what might change moving forward . Focusing on tasks became harder without always thinking about where you could / should be . I ’ ve got the nine-to-five , punch-inand-punch-out routine dialed in now to work my life around . The stability of work is great , but living in a sort of limbo in my main career tends to offset that stable feeling .
George Gorton : My schedule has changed dramatically . Having spent the last decade on the road , having a normal domesticated life was very weird . I found it challenging at first to spend time on design and related work without a clear idea of when it would be relevant again , so it was a battle keeping it in my schedule . I live in a rural area and the temptation to be outside was really strong . I also found the constant ebb and flow of COVID getting worse or better to be really tiring , constantly rebooking or changing dates and already being skeptical of them happening at all . In the end I think we all have a better idea now of what the timeline looks like so that has been comforting and much easier to have a regular schedule and make time for creation . It also drove me to make art for myself rather than for others , which was also a very rewarding experience .
Michael Herkimer : Much slower paced . I had taken six months off touring prior to the pandemic to try my hand at the unfamiliar skill of work / life balance . Not going to lie , after working non-stop for almost a decade , this did not come naturally . It was almost less relaxing for me to be off than it was to be working , which seemed sort of backwards . It wasn ’ t until about six months into the pandemic ( 12 months off work ) that I started to figure things out .
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We are used to being highly stimulated and being in fast paced environments . I never thought of it this way before the pandemic but , what we do for a living can be quite addicting . Fortunately , it ’ s not a negative addiction . In fact , it ’ s a good one . But I had to learn to mitigate this . I did that by becoming an avid fisherman !... But , seeing as how I couldn ’ t find anyone to pay to me fish ( so far ) …. I knew I had to make some changes . Biggest change was a pivot into television and film , and I have taken on the role of shooting programmer on Star Trek : Strange New Worlds … It will never replace what live concert design is to me , but it is definitely something I could see myself continuing to do in the background while touring . For anyone out there struggling to find work in Canada , TV / film is one of the strongest paths forward for us . I have zero doubts about that statement . We have a ton of skills which are extremely useful to the TV / film industry , and they aren ’ t doing us any good sitting at home !
Most importantly , I leaned on my loved ones , it was nice to spend more than a few weeks at home with my fiancé , Tara . I think she also had to get used to me being around so much . It ’ s been one of the biggest pros of this pandemic . And I am happy to say that I am about to become a firsttime father of a baby girl !
Kevin Lamotte : Finding myself decelerating from a full and often overlapping schedule to almost nothing in a day was a profound experience . Initially , some projects moved aspects of work online , including rehearsals , but eventually that work also halted . So , much of what I do was simply not possible and that fact redirected my attention elsewhere .
Louise Simpson : Well , my schedule is much lighter . With the increase in streaming , I have been doing a lot of set design work , which has been great . I ’ ve also been approached to work with some new clients for streams – their usual LDs are American . But I think the biggest thing was finally dipping my toes into production design and management .
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Steven Smith : Things are very different . For the most part , there isn ’ t much design work , or any type of work for that matter , going on at the moment . Clients seem to be very hesitant with their gigs while trying to figure out what the restrictions are going to be , and so the work comes last minute and typically with a much smaller budget . When it does come , it tends to come in waves as the COVID numbers are down and clients are trying to cram in as much as they can while the regulations are a little more relaxed . It has also been a large shift into the streaming and film side of the industry . It is very safe to say that I am only doing a small fraction of the work that I did pre-COVID , which I am fine with as my current priority is doing my part to keep myself , my family , and my friends healthy .
PL & P : Assuming you ’ ve had more downtime than usual over the last year , have you tried to use some of that time to bolster your work-related skills and knowledge ?
Bhogal : During the first part of the pandemic , it was mostly online courses / videos that some of the lighting companies were offering . There was a heavy amount of messing around with programming in a visualizer with a console . It was fun to watch something , try it , and see if I could make any use of it personally . Secondly , a few friends were / are still getting a handful of gigs , so they would hire me on if things allowed . Those gigs are a great breath of fresh air , and since they were mostly livestream related , I chipped away at how lights behave with several cameras involved .
Gorton : The downtime has been such a great opportunity to bolster knowledge and expand my horizons on my work-related skills . My business , which builds media servers and custom computing systems for touring , has pivoted and expanded into new markets like agricultural sensors and other related ruggedized computing applications , which has in turn given me a ton of
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ISHDEEP BHOGAL
• PTechnician for Dallas Smith , Dean P PBrody
• POperator for The Reklaws
• PProjects with Red Rover Entertain-P Pment
GEORGE GORTON
• PVancouver Island-based visualist , P specializing in media integration & P Pdesign .
• PPrinciple designer at Loud Enter-P P tainment Design Group Inc .
• PClients include Mother Mother , P Sam Roberts Band , Johnny Reid , P P Iggy Azalea , Dallas Smith & more
MICHAEL HERKIMER
• PToured as LD with Billy Talent , P Monster Truck , Protest the Hero , P Walk off the Earth , Hollerado & Pmore
• PCurrently shooting programmer on P P Star Trek : Strange New Worlds
PHOTO : MIKE PELESHOK PHOTO : TOM PRATT
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