Light Painting of New Brighton Aerial 498
Here’s a really cool project that happened last week. I had the opportunity to create a light painting of New Brighton Aerial 498. Well, that’s not entirely accurate as not only did we light paint New Brighton Aerial 498, but at the same time we light painted Unit #3. Unit #3 is the 1955 CJ-5 Jeep in the same light painting!
Aerial 498, and Unit 3#, a 1955 CJ-5 Jeep before light painting them.
And there’s even more! Deputy Director of Public Safety Trevor Hamdorf was in the station with his son, Landon. So I asked dad if he’d like to include his son with Aerial 498, and so we went for it! The starting image with Landon in dad’s firefighting gear is below.
The set-up shot with Landon prior to light painting.
Just like when we add our newlyweds to the one-of-a-kind light paintings that we create at weddings, Landon only had to be in the scene for a few minutes and then he was all done. Then we worked our magic on the light painting of New Brighton Aerial 498.
It Takes Two
When I say “we”, I’m talking about myself and Deputy Chief Mike Schute. Mike has been my “trigger man” for three New Brighton Fire Department light paintings, beginning with the light painting of New Brighton Fire Engine #5, almost two years ago.
My official title for Mike is now “Light Painting Technical Director”.
Like Joannie does when we create light paintings at weddings, it’s much easier to light paint when there’s someone else to fire the camera for me while I’m constantly moving the lighting around. Mike pretty much now knows what I’m looking for while I’m light painting firetrucks. He’s been a huge reason why these light painted fire trucks have turned out so awesome! Thank you, Mike!
Aerial 498 and Unit 3#, a 1955 CJ-5 Jeep.
One other thing that’s pretty important when light painting firetrucks, is that Mike also knows where all of the switches for the firetruck lights, and he’s very qualified to drive these rigs. Although driving firetrucks would be fun (for me), I’m letting him do all of the driving.
Because it was both cold and raining outside, the light painting of New Brighton Aerial 498 was done inside the fire station. By doing that, it allowed me to include the Jeep and the cool wooden fire and police American Flag in the background too.
Fire Truck Trivia
Aerial 498 is a 1997 Spartan 65′ TeleSquirt. Aerial 498 is the first due rig on structure fires and alarms for the City of New Brighton, MN. The 1955 CJ-5 Jeep, was New Brighton’s grass rig for many years, it has been retired from service for a few years now, and it is now mostly used for parades.
Once we completed the light painting photography of Aerial 498 and the 1955 CJ-5 Jeep, Mike and I decided to light paint another rig! The light painting of Engine 494 is still in the works and I’ll be sharing that with you in the coming days.
Landon, Aerial 498, and Unit 3#, a 1955 CJ-5 Jeep.
In the meantime, I’ve got a short video on our YouTube channel with the images I ended up using in creating the light painting of New Brighton Aerial 498. Please check it out below, and thank you for reading our post. – M&J