Light Painting Cessna 182 N225EA
In late August, I made a three-day, two-night light painting trip to Brownsville, Texas. I was there for two cool projects, one of which was Cessna 182 N225EA. Erick, the guy who owns the Cessna, also has a pair of Ford Shelby Mustangs that he wanted me to light paint while I was there. This was going to be an awesome trip!
The original plan, I thought, was to light paint the Shelbys with the aircraft. That plan changed (for the better – and with even more pleasant surprises) upon my arrival in Brownsville. More on that shortly.
Oshkosh AirVenture 2025
Erick and his pilot friend Ruben discovered us at EAA AirVenture this year. After seeing our imagery, like our beautiful 60” light painting of The Howard 500 on display in our booth, Erick was in!
Here’s the center section of our Light Painting Photography booth at AirVenture this year.
I sent a text to Erick the day after we met in our booth to thank him for commissioning us to light paint his aircraft and Shelby Mustangs. I told him I was excited to create his artwork, and he replied that he was excited too! That’s when he also sent me a text that read: “I also have some Harleys that we can look at.” My reply back was: “Saweeeeeet!”
Upon my return home from Oshkosh, we set the dates for the trip. I’d stay for two nights. One for Cessna 182 N225EA with the Shelbys, and the second night with the Harleys. At that time, I had no idea how many Harleys Erick had, and I sorta didn’t care either! I just knew it was going to be awesome!
Decisions, Decisions!
This turned out to be quite the light painting trip! Upon my arrival at Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport, I was greeted by Ruben. Erick was stuck in Philadelphia, and his flight wouldn’t get back until that afternoon.
It was talking with Ruben at the car rental desk when he told me that the Cessna light painting that night would be with the three Harleys rather than the Shelbys. I was pretty cool with that. I also found out that Erick wanted to add a truck to the Shelby Mustang light painting on the second night. What I didn’t know is that the truck was also a Shelby! I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a Ford Shelby truck! Night #2 was going to be awesome!
So, I got my rental car, and Ruben and I went to check out the location that they hoped would work to be the backdrop for Cessna 182’s light painting. That location was the RGV Wing Commemorative Airport in Los Fresnos, Texas. And, all I can say is, what a cool location!
Behind the scenes, from the camera perspective. That airport hangar is so cool!
RGV Wing Commerorative Airport (PIL)
The large old hangar at RGV Wing Commemorative Airport was built in the 1930s. The inside is fantastic, with wooden rafters, brick walls, cool windows, and lots of character! (By itself, the interior of the hangar would make for an amazing light painting!)
The exterior is just as cool, and it has the old Control Tower standing right next to it. The Control Tower is no longer in use and is very run-down, which makes it look amazing! There’s even a large cactus growing on the very top of it! This was definitely the spot!
Light Painting in Los Fresnos, Texas
We made the setup time 7:00 PM. Erick’s crew trailered the Harleys on-site, and Ruben flew in with the aircraft. Unfortunately, Erick wasn’t feeling well after his trip, so he lay low at home. We communicated with him via phone and text.
While setting up the image for Cessna 182 N225EA, with the 3 Harleys, we sent the setup pics via text to Erick. After seeing them, he decided to make that image all about the plane. He asked me if I could light paint the Harleys separately. I thought that was a great idea, as it would allow me to light paint the bikes much closer, which would highlight more of their cool details. It also made the first light painting all about the aircraft, which, with the wonderful location, would be really amazing!
That made night number #2 all about the Shelbys. Sweet!
Here is the base image of Cessna 182 N225EA. Once this image was taken, and it got dark out, the light painting magic began!
Cessna 182 N225EA at “The Hangar”
Cessna 182 N225EA went first, and its light painting went pretty smoothly. It did take a while to light paint the airplane, and then the huge hangar, but size-wise, nothing I haven’t experienced before. It was pretty fun, actually!
Because the hangar was so large, I ran to Home Depot earlier in the day to get a long painter’s pole, as well as a really powerful flashlight. I could only get so much gear on a plane with me from Minnesota, so I had to improvise. We light-painted the entire hangar and the Control Tower, using that flashlight. We lit it in small pieces, one little section at a time. It worked like a charm!
Upon completing the photography of the Cessna, Ruben flew the plane back to its regular airport home. Then, we set up to light paint the three Harley-Davidsons.
Well, by now you probably have figured out that I kinda love light painting photography (just a little bit)! Once the Harley and Shelby projects are completed, we, of course, will share them with you.
The one-of-a-kind light painting of Erick’s Cessna 182 N225EA!
Cessna 183 N225EA – The Movie
As always, we’ve created a short “Build Video” with the images that I used to create Erick’s one-of-a-kind light-painted artwork. We took 156 images that night, and 99 of those were used to create the amazing one-of-a-kind image that you see above. This one is going to look absolutely amazing on metal (they all do)!
Thank you, Erick, for the opportunity to create this and your other light paintings for you! I had a blast creating them. I just wish you were feeling better so that you could have been there! Next time.
Please Visit Our Light Painting Website
If you think this light painting photography project is pretty sweet, please check out our dedicated Light Painting website at MichaelAndersonLightPainting.com. There are dozens and dozens of amazing one-of-a-kind light paintings, including:
- Cool light paintings of construction equipment.
- Police cars and fire trucks.
- Aircraft, restaurants, and other goodies.
- A whole section of just light-painted Corvettes!
- Many other cool cars, trucks, and motorcycles.
- There’s even an entire page of one-of-a-kind light paintings that Joannie and I created at weddings!
Thank you so much for reading our story, and have a great day! – M&J