Outdoor Family Session - Pittsburgh, Mellon Park

After a busy fall season and so many sessions with families, it was so nice to kind of hibernate for a little bit and take some time to relax with my family and work on those adorable newborn sessions and studio family sessions that seem to always fill out my calendar in the colder months. But like clockwork, once March hits and we get those nice days, I am so ready to run around outside with families!

The weather is just starting to change, and we are in the part of late winter/early spring here in Pittsburgh where we get some beautifully warm days that just want to make you soak up every ounce of sun!

When the family for last weekend's session booked back in December, we said we would keep our fingers crossed for some decent weather for their daughters first birthday session! In March and April, you just never know what you will get. While the temperature was absolutely perfect, we did have to watch the weather quite as bit since the rain was on and off all morning. Thankfully, it quit by early afternoon, and we were a go for their session!

With the early spring dates, outside locations can be a little tricky since nothing is in bloom yet and you don't want to necessarily have your pictures done in the middle of a brown field. I always suggest locations like Mellon Park, Hartwood Acres or Phipps for these sessions. They each have an architectural feature to them that helps break up the brown trees that aren't quite in bloom. The family chose Mellon Park and it is truly a favorite since there are just so many little areas to work with that can add such a variety to your gallery.

Now, I have been lucky enough to work with this family several times. I knew going into the session that their older boys were exceptional listeners and take direction well. I also knew that birthday girl was just getting over a cold, so she was a little bit on the clingy side. We started out the session with some pictures of dad with his boys and then slowly added little sister to the mix. While she wasn't overly excited to be there, she was absolutely adorable and threw us a few smiles throughout the session!

We did go over on time just a teeny tiny bit and the boys were getting a little restless, but I love what we were able to capture, and these will be beautiful memories for them to look back on as their kiddos grow!