Raleigh Family Photography | Outdoor Session at Pullen Park

Sometimes, I can tell just from an initial inquiry email that we’re going to get along well and have a great time. That was absolutely the case with the Shipman family. I could tell through email that this beautiful mama had a great sense of humor and we laughed for just about the whole hour together.

It was Dad’s idea to have the session take place at one of their favorite family outing spots, Pullen Park and I was 100% in favor. Pullen Park has a great pond that is picturesque but also makes it a perfect loop to walk around with young and wiggly kids. Having grown up in Raleigh it also has a special place in my heart as it’s one of the parks I went to as a kid! My older son also had a huge train obsession when he was a toddler so we would visit frequently to ride the amazing antique train.

I noticed as soon as I arrived to the park that we had some gorgeous cherry blooms to work with which got me really excited. I think the photos with those beautiful pink flowers are some of my favorites from the session. I mean just look at these gorgeous colors!!! I still can’t believe I haven’t taken the opportunity to do photos with cherry blossoms before.

This series of images was just begging to be made into a little video:

And the final favorite still image from that series which I just adore, look at the joy just radiating from this little girl’s face!

One of the goals of this session was to get some photos of their baby who was about to turn ONE and we definitely got some super precious shots of him walking and just being adorable. He was super smiley and having a great time even though it was a little chilly outside. What a beautiful, infectious smile he has!