Light Night Leeds 2020
You’ll be surprised to hear that despite this being my third year here at the University of Leeds this was my first time participating in the Leeds Laser Night event (I know right- I can’t believe myself either!) Now as you can imagine, this year was slightly different (due to the ongoing pandemic which we will not go into), but I can safely say that it did not disappoint.
(Laser Light City Leeds artist's impression based on original photography by Keith Craven, Leeds city council).
Before, I begin to explain how exciting this year was, I’ll start with giving you some context. The Leeds Laser Night is an event that has been running for a number of years and has been organized by the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award winning artist Seb Lee-Delisle. After having attended the Laser Night I decided to do some more research to find out the purpose behind the event itself and this is when I discovered that Seb has been using this event to display and showcase amazing projections by extremely talented artists to fit a particular theme. Over the years, these fabulous projections would be displayed on monumental buildings around the city, giving everyone an opportunity to a) appreciate the work of various talented artists and b) to take some seriously cool photos. Also, after taking a look at Seb’s page, his use of light and lasers to create an event as magical as this, makes it even more exciting. I mean who doesn’t love seeing different colours in the sky, Seb uses the Laser Night to do this in a way that is not only innovative and interactive but in a way that is environmentally friendly too. What’s not to love about that? If you take a look at this link you will be able to see some incredible photos from the laser night over the years:
https://whatson.leeds.gov.uk/lightnight/previous-editions
I’ll tell you why this year was just as spectacular, not only was it in line with government regulations surrounding the ongoing pandemic but it was also interactive. This meant that this year we could actually control the lasers from our very own mobile devices! The very first time my friends visited Leeds was around a similar time (end of October/Beginning November), and they fell in love with all the lights put up in preparation for Christmas and after that I began describing Leeds as the City of Lights (now I know that Paris is the original city of Lights- but why can’t we have another one?). The first time I viewed the lasers from the rooftop and my accommodation. This was my favourite part of the whole event. This is going to sound philosophical and lame but standing on the rooftop in my pyjamas and no jacket (which let me just tell you was a bad idea- it was freezing!) and looking out at the city made me realize how much I love Leeds and just how small we are. Quite literally, I was on the eighth floor and I have terrible eyesight, so everything below looked so small. But in all seriousness, magical is the only word I can use to describe it. I went to see the lasers, but I was able to see the whole city and it was absolutely terrifying but in the best way possible. After attending this year’s events, the first thing I did was share all the videos and photos with my friends who aren’t as lucky as me and don’t live in Leeds and they were able to confirm that Leeds is in fact the city of lights (at least to me it always will be). The event ran from Thursday the 22nd to Saturday the 24th of October. I decided to use this as an opportunity to take a break from a long day of studying and I have to say it was worth the wait. We braved the rain and the harsh wind and stood outside the Merrion House (There are a number of sites that you can access – you then have to wait in an online queue before you can control the lasers yourself). We could already see the lasers from the Victoria Gate Car Park and decided that these were the ones we wanted to be able to control- and we did just that. It was fantastic! Below are some images of my screen demonstrating what it actually looked like. For those, who couldn’t physically go out, the event was livestreamed on the website which can still be viewed on the following page:
https://laserlight.city/leeds/
While the photos and videos are amazing, I don’t think they will be able to do justice to the event as a whole. Standing in the cold with a runny nose (just to be clear this was because of the wind) and numb fingers ready to watch the lasers and control them is a feeling I don’t think I can capture with the photo, but I’ll have you know it was magnificent. Staying indoors has meant that for a long time there hasn’t been an opportunity to go out with friends and take some fun photos and just enjoy the little things in a ‘COVID safe’ environment. This ticked every box. I hope that you too can appreciate the photos and videos and most importantly the beautiful city that Leeds is.