Light Painting a 1953 Ford Crestline Victoria
I had the opportunity of light painting a 1953 Ford Crestline Victoria for Ryan and Tina as part of their Wedding Photography Collection. During our planning meeting prior to their wedding day, we talked about whether or not we should create this image on their wedding day. We decided that since their wedding was on Memorial Day Weekend, that another date would be a better idea. As busy as downtown Stillwater was when we exited the Jubilee II after their wedding cruise, we made a really good call!
That didn’t mean that we were going to ignore the Ford on their wedding day. Nope, it made a cameo appearance in Pioneer Park shortly after their first look.
Ryan and Tina along with a beautiful 1953 Ford Crestline Victoria.
By light painting the ’53 Ford on a different date, they could go out after their wedding and have fun with their friends (which they did). It also allowed me to do a much more thorough and detailed light painting than we could ever have done on their wedding night. So, a couple of weeks after their wedding, we spent more than three hours doing just the photography part on this cool classic car!
The Stillwater Lift Bridge
In addition to our award-winning wedding photography, Ryan and Tina selected us as their wedding photographers because they knew that we create light painted wedding photographs. Also, because of one particular light painting that I did almost four years ago in Stillwater, MN. I light painted this stunning 1955 Chevy BelAir with the famous Stillwater Lift Bridge in the background. That light painting was created about one month prior to the bridge closing to vehicular traffic for good.
A beautiful light painting of Gene’s 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air in Stillwater, MN.
The significance of the Stillwater Lift Bridge to Ryan and Tina is that they took a walk on it on their first date. That, and the fact that Ryan proposed to Tina in January on the bridge too! Pretty cool! So the lift bridge was definitely going to be the backdrop for their light painting with the ’53 Ford!
The set-up photo. Now, we just had to wait for it to get dark enough to light paint.
After getting clearance from the Stillwater Police Department to park the car in the no parking zone for a few hours, we were good to go! Mother Nature gave us a really wonderful evening too! Quite a few bugs that landed on the car, but with a little Photoshop magic, they are all gone now!
About The Car
Ryan’s parents got the ’53 Ford Crestline Victoria from a farmer when he had it for sale around 1992. He lived just up the road from them in Wisconsin.
They took the whole thing apart; every nut and bolt. Then they cleaned it all up and put it all back together. They did the painting themselves. The color is Seafoam Green with a Forest Green top. The full restoration was completed in 2006.
It has been on display multiple times at the Minnesota Street Rod Association’s “Back to the ’50s” at the Minnesota Stare Fair Grounds, including just a couple of weeks ago.
Ryan and Tina’s beautiful light painting with the 1953 Ford Crestline Victoria.
Thank you!
A big thank you to George and Joyce for letting us borrow their cool car for Ryan and Tina’s pretty light painting. Now that you’ve seen the finished image, check out the short video on our YouTube Channel below. It contains the images that we used to create the image and “the build” of it, one layer at a time, in post-production. Thank you for reading our post and have a great 4th of July! – M&J