60th Anniversary Corvette Grand Sport
While in Missouri a few weeks ago, I had the amazing opportunity to light paint a 60th Anniversary Corvette Grand Sport 3LT. This car had just won the “Best of Show” award at the Lake of the Ozarks Corvette Club Show on April 29th. That was no small feat as there were dozens of spectacular Corvettes at the show vying for that very honor. For the show, I donated a light painting gift certificate to go to the person or persons that won the Best of Show Award.
My light painting booth at the Lake of the 2023 Ozarks Corvette Club car show.
At the conclusion of the awards ceremony, I met the car’s owners, Bobby, and his wife Billie. Our meeting was a very brief encounter because when the awards ceremony ended, so did the show itself. So everyone there was preparing to take their Corvettes out of the building, pretty much all at the same time (in an orderly manner, of course)! It was just enough time to barely say hello to Bobby and Billie and congratulate them on winning. It was just a bit chaotic, to say the very least!
Bobby is pictured here about to take his Corvette back home. I snapped this candid photo just moments after he and his wife Billie had won the “Best of Show” award at the 2023 Lake of the Ozarks Corvette Club Car Show.
When Opportunity Knocks
I sent Bobby a text the following day to find out where they lived (and where the car lives since it’s not always in the same location). As it turns out, they, and the Corvette, reside near St. Louis. So, since I was already in Missouri, I tossed out the idea of me light painting their beautiful 60th Anniversary Corvette Grand Sport 3LT while I was still in the state. Bobby thought that could work for them and so I traveled to Chesterfield, Missouri on Monday to spend an evening with them and their Corvette.
After I arrived at my hotel, I contacted Bobby and set up a time to meet to discuss a possible light painting location several hours before sunset. That’s when things got very interesting. It turns out that the park Bobby wanted to use was closed at dusk. That certainly wouldn’t work because that is right about the time I’d be starting the light painting process. Then, he mentioned possibly going to his work, at a nearby airport, to create the light painting.
You see, Bobby has worked at AVMATS Jet Support at the Spirit of St Louis Airport in Chesterfield, Missouri for over 35 years. Upon hearing the possibility of light painting their stunning Corvette with an airplane in the shot, I probably looked more than a little excited (and I probably didn’t hide it very well either)!
Light Painting a Car with Jets – History Repeating
The reason that I got so excited was that I knew how this could turn out before we even started the light painting. That’s because back during COVID, Joannie and I light painted a Cessna Citation X+ at the Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. But that wasn’t all, in the same photograph, we also light painted a 2020 G63 Mercedes Benz, and a 2020 Mercedes Benz GTR too! That image (below) is still one of my favorite light painting experiences!
The completed light painting of a Cessna Citation X+, along with a 2020 G63 Mercedes, and a 2020 Mercedes GTR.
60th Anniversary Corvette Grand Sport 3LT
Here are some of the things that make this beautiful 2013 60th Anniversary Corvette Grand Sport so special, and why it was selected as the 2023 Lake of the Ozarks Corvette Club “Best of Show” winner:
- LS3 6.2L / 428 lb-ft / 436 hp motor
- Supersonic Blue Metallic paint– Exterior
- Titanium Grey Leather – Interior
- C7 Z06 Wheels 19×10 / 20×12
- ZR1 Color-matched rear Spoiler
- ZR1 Carbon Fiber Splitter and Side Skirts
- 60th Anniversary Silver Replica Stripes
- Silver Over Ride Headlight Assembly’s
- Custom D Shaped and Wrapped Steering Wheel
- Carbon Fiber Hydro-Dipped Engine Bay Components
- Custom Air Brushed Hood-liner
- Chrome Race Mesh Front Grill Inserts
- Eagle Eye Led Halo Tail Lights
As you can see, this car rocks, both inside and out!
Light Painting a 60th Anniversary Corvette Grand Sport
I arrived at Spirit of St. Louis Airport well ahead of our agreed meeting time. I didn’t want to be late, and, I was really excited to create this project for Bobby and Billie. That gave me time to think about everything I needed to do in the nice calm environment of my vehicle while parked.
It had been very windy that entire day, and it wasn’t backing off even a little bit as sunset approached. I was very concerned that I would have to call it off. Even my sturdy ProMediaGear TR344L Pro Carbon Fiber Tripod wouldn’t keep the camera from moving tiny amounts in all that wind. Any camera movement means that the images would not line up perfectly. That’s not a good thing when taking hundreds of exposures while light painting. Thankfully, Bobby had that problem covered for us. We were going to light paint their beautiful 60th Anniversary Corvette inside a hangar (and out of the wind). Nice!
Not One, Not Two, But Three!
I really didn’t know what to expect after my meeting with Bobby at their home earlier that afternoon. All I knew is that we were going to have a plane of some sort in the light painting along with their Corvette. I didn’t know until we got there that the company he works for, AVMATS, only works on jet aircraft.
So, when they opened up the hanger doors and I saw that there were three jet aircraft in the hanger, I kinda wanted to do a happy dance! I unloaded all of my camera gear into the hanger, Bobby pulled the Corvette inside and we closed the doors and got to work, nicely out of the wind.
This is the setup photo prior to starting Bobby and Billie’s light painting artwork.
And get to work we did! Billie loves photography and she was my main assistant, firing the camera using my iPad Pro, all night long. I always enjoy watching as an owner sees all that goes into creating their light painting and see their reactions to the images as they’re created. I have to admit that I never get tired of seeing the first long exposures when they show up on my iPad Pro.
Much More To Come!
All-in-all, we created five unique light paintings of Bobby and Billie’s fabulous 60th Anniversary Corvette Grand Sport 3LT that night. This one was by far the most challenging. We took well over 300 exposures on this one light painting alone! The finished light painted artwork has well over 100 Photoshop layers and took more than 12 hours in post-production!
Once this one was “in the can”, we then light painted the Corvette’s interior, then the incredible engine compartment. That was followed by a light painted the rear of the car, and the final light painting was of just the front end. By the time I got all packed up back in my Honda Odyssey, it was exactly midnight. Then it was back to the hotel for some sleep before heading on the long trip back home early on Tuesday morning.
I’m going to write a totally separate blog post about those four other light paintings. Watch for that one in the coming days.
Bobby and Billie’s light painted artwork #1 of 5!
60th Anniversary Corvette Grand Sport Light Painting – The Movie
As always, here’s a short YouTube video with many of the images that were taken and the ones that I used to create this wonderful artwork for Bobby and Billie. Thank you for reading our post and have a great Sunday! – M&J