In Aalto Studios’ multi-camera production facility the last two weeks, BA scenography students are learning a new outlet for their creativity: lighting.

Led by lecturer and professional lighting designer Mia Kivinen, the students learned all about the technical side of studio lighting, and have begun to understand just how much power a light has over a scene. But most of all, as Kivinen says, “The idea in this course is to fail as much as possible. That’s how one learns.”

This idea was embraced wholeheartedly by the students as well, who were happy to have the chance to make mistakes as they explored a new territory.

During the course, students brought in photographs with lighting they admired. After discussing them in class, Kivinen surprised the group with a task: they would need to recreate the lighting in each of their photographs, putting their newfound lighting skills to the test using the lighting at the studio.

And, with a variety of lights, color filters, stands, studio props and lighting stands, they did just that, all establishing faithful renditions of the lighting in their original photographs. You can see some of the final results and works-in-progress above.