All images courtesy Vitaly Munzuk
Riverside, California’s Harvest Church now has a more modern look and feel, following a recent beautification project, including painting, seating, carpet, pew upgrades, new audio, as well as new lighting. For over 40 years, the church has been helping the community learn and grow in faith and church leadership decided it was time to modernize. The old lighting infrastructure was using dimming incandescent bulbs for house lighting and the leaders wanted LED replacement lighting that was bright, and capable of color changing.
E2i Design specializes in working with churches and ministries and Harvest Church is a longstanding client. They supplied and installed a modern lighting design using the Chroma-Q LED Inspire family of fixtures.
“When it comes to house lighting, Chroma-Q is the brand we reach for,” explains Josh Holowicki, E2i Design’s founder. “For house lighting in a Church, Chroma-Q has the quality of light as a fixture and light output that we are looking for. It is significantly brighter, with cleaner whites and brighter colors. There are lens options and accessories that allow us to create the effects we are looking for. We think the Inspire fixture is esthetically pleasing with outstanding visual quality. The fixture is easily mounted and has an optional component of DMX power onboard or terminal strip data. Best of all, there is zero maintenance. In our opinion, Chroma-Q is the number one brand for house lighting, and both Chroma-Q and A.C. Lighting Inc. are phenomenal business partners for us.”
Using a combination of Chroma-Q Inspire and Inspire XT fixtures, E2i Design was able to meet many of the expectations of Christopher Eguizabal, Production Supervisor with Harvest Church. “My team comes from a production background, and we were confident that we knew what we wanted when we brought E2i onboard,” explains Eguizabal. “They designed the lighting layout and installed the project for us. We are elated with the service and professionalism of E2i. They did an outstanding job on this project, keeping it on time and budget, even when faced with challenges and delays from other contractors.”
Using the Inspire LED fixture allows for an immersive environment that is rich in color. Evan Hamilton, CTO/Lead Engineer at E2i Design, uses the functionality of the fixture taking the creative aspects of the Inspire and using it to align and match the color on the stage. Balancing and color matching to digital and immersive backgrounds and video walls was important to the client. The Inspire allows a finite control to attain the exact look Hamilton wanted.
White lighting is used during worship, singing, and the band, as well as for cleaning, maintenance, and while the congregation enters the church. “Chroma-Q Inspire house lights allow us to break down the barriers between the stage and the audience and create an immersive worship experience,” says Hamilton.”Harvest Church runs a theme for approximately six weeks and requires the house lighting to match the theme of each series. Chris was already very familiar with the Chroma-Q brand and taught us a few tricks with programming the lighting rig to capture the effects desired.”
Eguizabal’s team uses the house lighting extensively throughout the service. They program a different scene for each song during the service. The color changes allow the design team to set the mood to reflect the song, theme, or moment.
“We are thrilled with the new lighting system,” Eguizabal concludes. “It is saving us a lot of money switching from halogen to LED lighting. Our consumption is down by 50%. The Inspire are brighter and we are using fewer fixtures. We are impressed with the quality of light and how even the light is, which is great for the camera. There is essentially no flickering, and if there is, we can manage it with the controller. What’s cool is how we have individual control over each fixture, allowing us to change the color and to control the areas where the congregation is sitting to keep the service intimate and immersive.”
