THE SSP JOURNAL

Joyful, fine art wedding photography for real couples. Serving Chicago, Washington DC and beyond.
Based in South Bend, Indiana. Available for travel.

Creative Portrait Series – Candyland – South Bend Portrait Photographer

When this year first started, I realized that I wasn’t doing any projects for myself. I have always wanted to dive deeper into creative portraiture and lighting in studio but its not something too many clients ask for. Thats when I decided, I was going to do it for myself. So every month I’ll be doing a creative portrait shoot, each one with a different theme and lighting setup.

The first shoot to kick off this creative portrait series is Candyland. I was inspired by the pink backdrop a friend gave me and thought – What goes perfect with bubble pink than bubble gum! I went to our local candy store and bought $86 dollars worth of candy (I wasn’t quite sure what all I’d need) and enlisted the help of by dynamite style team – Ashley and Nidia.

A few Pinterest boards later, we had a color scheme and general look for the images. The wonderful part of doing a project with no rules is the 3 of us got to make it up as we went. All the aspects were up to us and that’s really invigorating. I know Ashley and Nidia were both excited to to be able to try things that brides/clients wouldn’t request. To be fair, I can understand why a bride wouldn’t want neon pink eyeshadow her wedding day. šŸ¤£

Our fabulous model was Lauren W, one of my April brides who I adore! I could seriously just put her in my pocket, I love her so much! Her bubbly personality and carefree attitude was exactly what I was looking for for this particular shoot. She was game for anything and even dyed her hair pink the night before.

When it came to hair, Nidia separated Lauren’s hair into 2 parts and braided them on the top of her head. Then she added colorfully extensions and curled everything back into 2 puffy buns. Some candy and glitter was added to the hair to make Lauren pop off the page.

For makeup, Ashley pulled out every color she could find. If it was bold and colorful, she used it! Lauren’s eyes were a combination of so many colors and her candy freckles were glued on with eyelash glue. She looked good enough to eat… Minus the glue. šŸ¤£

Now it was time for wardrobe. After trying a few different looks, we settled on a 1950’s white top and pants, lavender dress and of course, a poke a dotted dress that looked like Lauren was covered from head to toe in gum balls.

With all the elements in place, it was now my turn. To say I was nervous, was an understatement. My team had knocked it out of the park, so it was up to me to capture this incredible collaboration. Thankfully, after the first light check, I knew we were in for an amazing ride! šŸ˜

Look 1 – 1950’s

I focused more on Lauren herself vs the candy in this first section. With the hair and makeup fresh, it was the perfect time to show off Nidia and Ashley’s hard work. The white top allowed for your eyes to go directly to Lauren’s face and the color to really pop! We first played with Jelly Beans and then giant Sweettarts (which I ate way too many of, lol).

Candy bracelets for the win!

I had Lauren throw the Jelly Beans in the air as if it was raining. I had to add a few in post because all of the beans fell to just 1 side of the frame. Super easy fix. šŸ˜‰

Look 2 – Lavender goddess

Lauren brought this purple dress that matched perfectly with the cotton candy I had bought. I really wanted to use it in the photos but it wasn’t very fluffy. So instead of pulling it apart, we decided to make a cotton candy shoulder piece. The cotton candy really looked like part of the dress. It didn’t last long as the cotton candy began to crumble. So Lauren showed off her very sticky fingers instead. Love how her arms and hands frame her face in the center photo.

The next series of photos was actually Lauren’s idea. She said we should crush up the Sweettarts and then she could blow them at the camera; brilliant! Grace crushed up like a pound of candy in preparation for this shot. We wanted to make sure to have extra in case we didn’t get the shot on the first try. However, to my surprise, we not only got it on the first try but also got 3 versions of it! I love to see the 3 of them back to back!

The taffy also had a mind of its own. I was hoping that Lauren could pull it apart and play with it. However, the taffy was too hard to work with but Lauren managed to get a cute shot anyways.

Look 3 – Bubble gum

Our last look was the poke-a-dotted dress that looked like giant gum balls. The first shot, a real bubble pop. It took 4 pieces of Double Bubble to get just 1 good bubble but Lauren did it. It was not easy and I think her jaw hurt after the shoot.

It’s raining gummy bears! I saw this done before and I thought it was super cute and definitely on theme with our shoot. It took about 4 tries though to get all the elements in the right spot. We had to make sure the gummies didn’t block Lauren’s face. The lighting would illuminate them and that they fell down from the ‘sky’ like rain. We finally got everything to come together but I did have to add a few gummies in post because there was a gap on the upper right corner of the frame. I ā¤ļø this image so much!!!

Since it was the day before Valentine’s Day, why add a little ā¤ļø into the mix!

I was super excited to incorporate a lollipop into this part of the shoot. However, it arrived broken and we had to super glue it to a piece of cardboard to even stay somewhat together. Thankfully that’s what Photoshop is for! šŸ˜‰ šŸ­

Last but not least was the gum balls! I had Lauren lay with her head in a cardboard box and we placed all the gum balls and assorted candies around her head. This was not an easy shot. I stood over Lauren as she lay on the floor and Grace holding the cardboard box sides together. We didn’t have nearly enough gum balls so I had to add more in post later. We tried a couple different poses with it but ultimately it was this shot that worked the best. Love it!

I want to say a HUGE thank you to my team, Nidia, Ashley, Grace and Lauren for helping me pull off my vision. The photos/shoot came out so much better than I could have imagine. I’m excited to continue this series next month. See you there!

To see the full shoot, click here.

Vendors:

Photography: Sarah Sage Photography LLC

Makeup: Ashley Urban Artistry

Hair: Blushing Beauty & Co.

Assistant: Grace Smith

 

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