Light Painting at The Mill Site
Today, we’re ready to unveil John and Lisa’s pretty one-of-a-kind wedding light painting at The Mill Site in downtown Anoka, Minnesota. Like all of our light paintings, this one took on a life of its own, both during the photography part and in post-production.
Earlier on their wedding day, John talked to me about where we might create their wedding light painting. We both thought that using the Anoka Independent Grain & Feed as a backdrop would be pretty cool. So I walked around and took photos of possible angles to use.
The “before” photo.
My biggest fear, and it did come true, was that their wedding guests would be parking their cars in that area. A bunch of cars in the photograph would certainly make it less than appealing. There was one angle that would minimize the car clutter but still keep the essence of the silo and both historic buildings in the background. So that’s the one we went with.
A Quick Recap
A few days ago, we shared many of the wonderful wedding photos and memories from their wedding day at The Mill Site leading up to their light painted wedding photo. It really was a magical day!
Lisa walking down the aisle with her brother Kevin. This was John’s first look!
From their pretty wedding ceremony on the banks of the Rum River, family and wedding party photos, Lisa’s daughter, Emily, getting engaged to Alex Pietsch (during the family photos!), and a wonderful dinner and dance at The Mill Site, it truly was a picture perfect day!
John and Lisa’s extended family.
Light Painting at a Wedding
Once their wedding dance was in full swing, Joannie and I gathered all of our equipment out to the lawn to set up for John and Lisa’s light painting. It turned out to be a bit on the breezy side, so we recruited a couple of their wedding guests to hold on to our light stands to help us to avoid any mishaps.
Once we were all set, our newlyweds joined us for their part in the photograph. Once we had a keeper, they went back to their party, and we got to work!
John and Lisa’s wedding portrait portion of their light painting.
How Tall Is That?
By far, the toughest part of this light painted wedding photo was the height of the feed mill silo. As you may or may not know, whenever we light paint, because it is done in the dark, we have to put light on everything in the photograph. Well, because the silo is probably around 100 feet tall, it was a challenge to get our strobes to push the light up that far. After some thought, we came up with an idea that worked really well (pixie dust)!
So, without further ado, here’s John and Lisa’s cool finished light painted wedding photograph! Pretty cool!
John and Lisa’s one-of-a-kind light painting!
The Movie
We’ve got a very short “build video” on our YouTube channel with the images that we used to create John and Lisa’s one-of-kind light painted wedding photograph. Please check it out at the link below. Thank you for taking time out of your day to read our post! – M&J