I Love Lizzie

An I Love Lucy themed session

I Love Lucy is one of America's most beloved television shows. If you grew up in the 90's, you may remember a time when Nick at Nite (before the modern classic overhaul) featured much older classic TV Shows like The Munsters, I Dream of Jeannie or Green Acres. Ahhh the good ole days. We didn't have Nickolodean, so the only time we ever would get to watch it was if we stayed at a hotel. (which wasn't very often either lol) Anyways, if you read my earlier post about my Golden Girls tribute, you know that I love paying homage to classic American Pop Icons.  The Thomas family had been visiting me every four months for Milestone Sessions where I capture the sitting, standing, and walking stages. We created several different themes, but this one has to be my favorite.  During one of my in home sessions, I learned that their Kitchen is fully decorated with I Love Lucy memorabilia. I knew this theme would be perfect for them. It took about two months to get everything together, but I'm so thrilled with the results!

The Set

My studio space in Vine Grove, Kentucky is the perfect size for sitters. Over the past year, I realized I don't need a ton of space to get those wow-worthy images, and have used storing several of my backdrops off site. I purchased this backdrop when I was on a mid century modern phase while settling into a new apartment. I think I may have used it one other time. I liked it, but the retro vibe isn't for everyone, so it had literally been in storage for a couple years. When planning this session, I knew it would be perfect for this session, and I was right! The pink hearts with squares is from Lemondrop Backdrops and Printing. It is a poly-paper material so it's pretty durable and never wrinkles! 

The floor is from my go-to cake-smash backdrop company Savage Universal.  This thick paper is the best for easy cleanup and durability. Usually, I do a full sweep so it's a nice solid color, but I decided to pair the two drops together because they matched so nicely. The Lucy cookie jar and license plate belonged to the client, and the chocolates came from a Whitman's Sampler. 

The Cake

Yeah, I'm dedicating an entire section to this cake! The local bakery A Sweet Retreat has been one of my partners since I had my first in-home studio.  Bess is a fellow creative who I am so happy is local to Hardin County. Her bakery is located near the Walmart in Elizabethtown, KY.  My extent of baking experience is limited to pop-tarts (which I still struggle to get the "toastyness" level right) and cake mugs, so it's a blessing to have such talent close to my studio. (seriously she rocks)  I described my vision, and she made it happen!. This giant chocolate is perfection, and adding the I Love Lucy logo to the cake just really made it pop!

The Outfit

The adorable candy maker outfit was made by Darling Desirae. Another trusted vendor who really pays attention to detail, she nailed this outfit. The hat fit Lizzie to a T, and the uniform was the perfect size for this little one year old. 

Lighting

For this session, I used a Canon 5DMii with an 85mm 1.8 lens. I am a huge fan of Paul C Buff, Inc. I used my Alienbee b400 with an 86" plm umbrella with the diffusion fabric. This large light source is my go to light and modifier combination for pretty much any indoor session, especially babies.

Truthfully, this was one of my simpler sessions, but as you can see there was a still lot of planning involved. I loved every minute of it! It's exciting to open the packages as they arrive and then seeing the vision come to fruition. If your interested is planning your own Milestone Session simply fill out the contact us form here.  If you're a vendor and interested in collaborating, I'd love to hear from you as well!