MRI Lightpainting. Bright Lights. Long Exposures.

History

In 2007, Ryan Warnberg, a former rave kid turned music biz guy from the suburbs of Minneapolis and Michelle McSwain, a bright eyed young photographer from Kentucky, met in New York City and developed a love of street art and photography. Together, they discovered the photo style known as light painting. In the beginning, the two spent their nights lighting up the streets of NYC, posting their photos online, creating a small name for themselves in the lightpainting world. 

Soon, Ryan and Michelle (MRI) started getting emails and messages from people all over the world asking, "How are these photos possible?" "What lights do you use?" "Can you teach me?" No question went unanswered. Being precious or guarded about their work has never been a "thing" with MRI. The more people who wanted to light paint, the better. This inclusive vibe has defined the company ever since.

Photo Booths

To reach a wider audience, the two created the Light Painting PhotoBooth, a mobile place where anyone and everyone can be the subject (and creator) of one-of-a-kind light art. The response was overwhelming. From corporate events in San Francisco to Bar Mitzvahs on Long Island, raves in Brooklyn, and 12-day parties in Saudi Arabia, the booth has seen it all. The more they shot, the more people asked how they could create their own light art.

Lightbomber

To reach those with a desire to light paint but without a fancy shmancy camera, they cracked open their piggy banks and self-funded the creation of LightBomber, the light painting app for iPhone. 

Now, people all over the world have the tools to join the ever-expanding community of light painters. The app has been featured on Gizmodo, Wired, and the App Store, and with a massive roadmap of future development on the horizon, the LightBomber story is just getting started.

Ryan and Michelle have poured their hearts into creating art and making it possible for everyone to create. Beyond these two major projects, they have pushed the art of long exposure photography into as many spaces as possible. They've done fashion shoots, print ads, portraits, music videos, album covers, abstract fine art, and more. They built  MRI Lightpainting on sharing the experience of light art with as many people as possible, and they show no signs of stopping that journey.

Contact Us

Book a Lightpainting Photobooth now for your next event, or download LightBomber and create some art on your own. Keep up with the two on their blog where they regularly post new projects they are working on. 

And whatever you do, don't stop creating.

The streets are dark, light em up!

• Ryan - ryan [at] mrilightpainting.com
• Michelle - michelle [at] mrilightpainting.com