Today we’d like to introduce you to Ligia (Lulu) Babici.
Hi Ligia (Lulu), we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve been obsessed with flowers for as long as I can remember. When I was 7 or 8, I started taking photos of every flower I saw: in our backyard, at the park, on trips, everywhere. My parents took me to Paris once and I came home with about 200 photos of flowers and maybe 5 of the Eiffel Tower. Photography has been a constant in my life ever since.
Over the years it took many forms, one of them being self-portraiture. I traveled a lot throughout my 20s, so I ended up taking self-portraits in some of the most beautiful places in the world. It was always this quiet thread running through my life, even while I pursued a completely different path professionally.
I grew up with the mentality that you can’t really make a living as an artist, so I went to nursing school instead. I was incredibly passionate about becoming a midwife and changing the system from within. But somewhere along the way, that pull toward photography, the thing that had been sitting on the back burner for nearly a decade, became impossible to ignore.
The idea of running a business terrified me. I didn’t go to business school; I went to nursing school, so how was I supposed to know how to build a creative business from scratch?
Then in 2021, I met someone who worked in food photography, and it completely cracked open a new world for me. I remember thinking, wait… someone actually has to create the photos you see on websites, packaging and billboards? Somehow, I had never really considered that before. That realization sent me down a deep rabbit hole into commercial and product photography, and I’ve been obsessed ever since.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I don’t think anyone who’s built a business can say it’s been a smooth road. Entrepreneurship is basically self-development on crack haha. It forces you to confront every fear, every limiting belief, every people-pleasing tendency, even the really deep patterns that have spent your entire life trying to keep you “safe.”
What’s funny is that the technical side of product photography, which a lot of photographers avoid because of how complex and detail-oriented it is, feels easy in comparison to the internal transformation required to sustain a creative business long term.
At some point, you realize your business can’t outgrow your mindset. The biggest bottlenecks are rarely technical or strategy-related. They’re emotional, psychological and energetic. Learning how to trust myself, take up space, handle rejection, develop resilience, communicate confidently and continue creating even when things feel uncertain has been far more challenging than learning lighting setups or retouching techniques.
Building this business has been equal parts the hardest thing I’ve ever done and the biggest catalyst for personal growth. In an unexpected way, it’s become its own kind of alchemy.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My work sits at the intersection of art and professional service. I run a product photography studio where we essentially build the visual world a brand lives in through photography, video and stop motion.
Every project starts long before I pick up my camera. As I always say, “the magic is in the pre-production.” I do a deep dive into the brand itself: understanding its values, visual presence, positioning, competitors, content gaps, audience and the story they’re trying to tell. The goal is to create visuals that don’t just look beautiful, but that connect the brand with the right customers in a way that feels emotionally resonant.
I specialize in product photography for brands in the CPG space, especially food and beverage, skincare, wellness and beauty. I’m particularly drawn to brands that care deeply about what they’re creating and are building something with real heart behind it.
What I’m most proud of is the relationships I’ve cultivated with long-term clients. So much of my process is rooted in trust and collaboration. There’s something magical about getting so in sync with a brand that I can understand what they need, sometimes before they fully know how to articulate it themselves. The best projects are the ones where the work absolutely fires me up creatively, while the client feels deeply seen and obsessed with the final result.
Visually, my work is known for being bright, colorful, tactile and full of life. But beyond aesthetics, I think what sets me apart is that my work is strategy-led at its core. I’m not just creating pretty images, I’m creating visuals with purpose for brands whose values I genuinely align with, and that makes the work incredibly fulfilling.
What makes you happy?
Lately I’ve been really deep in my business because of how much transformation it’s catalyzing within me, but outside of work, I’m happiest when I’m connected to nature and creating with my hands in a slower way.
I love being in my garden tending to my veggies and flowers, hiking near a body of water, paddleboarding, foraging for plants and mushrooms, pressing flowers, painting with watercolors and exploring our amazing city with my partner and friends.
I think all of those things reconnect me to the same sense of curiosity, beauty and presence that made me fall in love with photography in the first place.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lulusatelier.com
