Subaru WRX and Piper Dakota N2904R
We’re pleased to share another cool light painting project of a 2017 Subaru WRX and Piper Dakota N2904R. This fun project was created for Eddie as part of his senior portraits. And, since we were going to have the Piper Dakota N2904R featured with Eddie’s Subaru WRX, his Dad, Rudy, got in on the act too (since he’s the one who pilots the aircraft). A very unique father and son portrait, that’s for sure!
Here’s the 2017 Subaru WRX and Piper Dakota N2904R. They are all set up and ready to be light-painted!
I already knew that Eddie wanted to have photos with his car as part of his senior photos. His Mom, Nikole, shared that information with me before Eddie’s senior portrait planning meeting here at our studio. However, I found out that the family was into flying as well, Dad in particular. So that’s when I suggested creating a light painting project to feature both of their vehicles in one cool image. Eddie was in immediately, and I don’t think it took much pushing to get Dad involved once Eddie and Mom got back home!
A Little Bit of Planning Goes A Long Way!
A couple of weeks before the light painting project, I created Eddie’s “regular” senior photos, as well as some nice family portraits at Saint Anthony Main in downtown Minneapolis, MN. Here’s the link to that story featuring Eddie’s senior and family photos.
A nice close up family portrait that I created right along the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Main.
After the Saint Anthony Main portion of his senior session, we made a stop at Crystal Airport. That way, I could check out the aircraft and take a few more senior photos. It also helped me to come up with ideas as to where we might create their light painting project. Dad flies as a member of Club Cherokee, so we were not exactly sure which of the club’s six aircraft might be the one that would be available when we created the light painting. But, at least we would have a plan in place.
Here is one of the images I captured of Eddie while we were checking out possible places to light-paint his Subaru with a Piper Cherokee.
We made a contingent plan for light painting inside the hangar if the weather didn’t cooperate on the scheduled night. And, we also had a plan for an outdoor version, which I preferred, if Mother Nature was in a good mood. It turns out that she was in an excellent mood that night, and she tossed in a stunning sunset for us as well!
Light Painting the Subaru WRX
What is a Subaru WRX? I know I hadn’t heard of them before this. Well, I can tell you that Eddie loves, his (and he knows it inside and out too)! When we met at the studio to plan his senior portraits, I knew that he wanted photographs created with his car. Since he drove it to the studio that day, I got to see for myself, what exactly a Subaru WRX was. I think it’s a pretty hot little car (and it was pretty fun to light paint)!
A Little History About the Subaru WRX
Eddie shared with me that the Subaru WRX is a sport compact car with all-wheel drive originally based on the Impreza, which was designed for the World Rally Championship. WRX stands for “World Rally eXperimental”. The WRX is known for its performance and has won many races, including three consecutive Manufacturer’s Championships.
I captured this nice image of Eddie and his Subaru WRX on the evening that we created his light painting. We created it while we were waiting for it to get dark enough to light paint the car and the plane.
Some of the Subaru WRX features include a Symmetrical all-wheel drive, a Turbocharged engine, and a six-speed manual transmission with a Sport-tuned suspension. Its powerplant is a Boxer Engine.
A Boxer Engine is a type of engine with cylinders that are arranged horizontally on either side of a crank-shaft, facing each other. The pistons move horizontally in a punch-counterpunch rhythm, similar to boxers in a ring, which is how the engine got its name. Boxer Engines have several advantages, including a low center of gravity and reduced vibration because the opposing pistons balance each other out.
Boxer Engines were invented in Germany in 1887 by Karl Benz, the half-founder of Mercedes-Benz. Porsche put the Boxer Engine in its 356 models in 1937, and Subaru has used it in all of its models since 1966.
Eddie’s “Modified” 2017 Subaru WRX
Eddie has personalized his Subaru WRX with the following:
- MBRP Catback Exhaust
- Spec D Taillights Sequential
- Spec D Fog Lights Sequential
- Carbon Fiber Back Emblem
- Carbon Fiber Fender Emblems
- Noble CS Style Grille
- Molded Innovations Front Radiator Power Brace
- AeroFlow Splitter JdMuscle
- 25mm spacers on the back tires
- Sport SRS plus tires 18 inch
- Subispeed v2 sequential headlights
- 20% tint
- Grimmspeed downpipe v1
- MAperformance intake green filter
- Cobb Accessport v3
- O2 sensors
- Grimmspeed license plate decal cover
Light Painting the Piper Dakota N2904R
As I mentioned earlier, Dad flies out of the Crystal Airport and is a member of Club Cherokee. As I understand it, members can fly any of the Club’s six Piper aircraft, all they have to do is reserve it for when they wish to fly.
Club Cherokee is a non-profit, equity-based organization with a principal presence at the Crystal Airport (KMIC). The club was founded in 1987 and has grown to a fleet of six well-maintained aircraft. Two of their Pipers are Dakotas. They welcome new members of all backgrounds and experience levels, including if you’ve never been in the pilot seat in your life! Their website says it all: “At Club Cherokee, the sky is the limit home!”
Rudy shared with me that a Piper Dakota has a cruising speed of 135 knots, a range of 650 nautical miles, and a payload, with full fuel tanks, of 959 lbs.
Not knowing the exact aircraft that I’d be light painting ahead of time was no big deal. I believe that there were two Piper Dakotas among the planes in the hangar that afternoon when we stopped by to scout the location. While there were some subtle differences, the most noticeable difference was mostly the paint job of each airplane.
Here’s their unique father & son light-painted portrait!
The Movie
As always, I’ve created a “Build Video” for this project. It contains the images that I used to create this one-of-a-kind light-painted photograph for Eddie and his family. Of the 325 images that were captured that night, I used nearly 100 of them, and well over 100 layers in Photoshop, to create their finished artwork. The link to the short movie on our YouTube channel is found at the link below.
Thank you for taking time out of your day to read our post! – M&J
“Subaru WRX and Piper Dakota N2904R” © 2024 Michael Anderson Photography.