Winners of Ready Steady Light 2022!

In October 2022 a team from CBG Consultants braved the elements and took part in the annual SLL Ready Steady Light competition, for the second year running. Held in the grounds of Rose Bruford College, with a helpful team of current students on hand, up to fifteen teams take part. Each team is assigned an area, and an allocation of just six light fittings. They have to come up with a concept for their scheme, then implement it and create a narrative. Light fittings can be exchanged at the swap shop, and a variety of colour gels are available. At around 7pm it’s tools down and a welcome hot meal in the campus café, while judges pace the sites and mutter secretly amongst themselves. Does the concept work? Is that a bit of stray glare they can see? Why has the light spilt over and illuminated an ugly TV dish? Could those cables running on the ground have been concealed better? Teams themselves visit their competitors’ installations, and vote for the peer award. After a tense wait, all is revealed, with awards given for best technical installation, best artistic scheme, and the winning peer award.

After some playing around with light fittings (really the main point of the evening), the CBG team focused on just a couple of interesting features on one tree: a derelict bird box, and a small hollow on a cut trunk. Using some narrow beam spots with colour filters aimed onto these focal points, the stage was set for a dramatic showdown between law enforcement and an errant acorn-stealing squirrel. An eerie red foreground wash amongst the branches completed the sense of an immersive crime scene.

To our delight, the team scooped the artistic prize and was also praised by the technical award judges. As for the squirrel? Well, that’s another story….