Durham Family Photographer

Carolyn Scott is a Durham family photographer. She specializes in candid and documentary at-home family photography in the Triangle area (Durham, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Cary, etc). Carolyn’s work has been published in several popular books and magazines, including Apartment Therapy, BuzzFeed, and Fangoria. Locally, she’s been voted Best Photographer in Durham Magazine’s Best Of Durham and INDY Week’s Best of the Triangle. She lives in South Durham with her husband Geoff and three cats.

I had an absolute blast doing t-ball portraits for this little spunk of a girl! Her mom Cassie contacted me to say that her daughter had joined t-ball this year and was absolutely crushing it. And needless to say, this girl loves t-ball. She enjoys telling the coach that she should be playing 1st base because 3rd base is boring, she gets aggravated that no one is keeping score, and enjoys sporting poofy princess dresses *and* her t-ball gear whenever possible (i.e. this shoot). So Cassie and I organized a little shoot for her where she could run the bases, catch the ball, pose in her pink princess dress and her helmet, and of course – hit stuff with a bat. She was such a little trooper and had the best time, especially autographing a baseball for her mom. It was a blast and I’m pretty sure I got my exercise in too. :)

I’ve photographed Abbi and Olivia at all sorts of important stages of their family now and I’ve built up quite a documentary archive of their beautiful life. They have two boys who are ADORABLE. One who is addicted to anything adrenaline-filled (anything involving wheels and a helmet, as well as jumping on the bed), and one who is currently addicted to the lighter things in life like bubbles and blueberries and sink water. Older Brother looooves teaching Younger Brother new things, and they cook together in their little outdoor kitchen and play together on their wall full of Household Stuff (old telephone parts, faucet handles, Master locks, keyboards – truly a gem of a DIY kid toy). Abbi and Olivia are constantly on the move after these fast-moving small humans, currently in the important stage of family life called “trying to keep up with very active kids.” And bounding around all of this, fast moving kids and fast moving moms, is Basil the German Shepherd, who is constantly trying to catch sunlight coming off of any object (usually my camera on photo days). It’s a joyful time in the heart of this little sweet family, and I’m glad I was there to capture the days of being little and carefree for these boys and their mamas.

I’ve photographed these folks a few times now and their family never ceases to amaze me. They’re joyful and hilarious. The kids are SO smart. They love talking to me about cats and cameras and wildflowers. The parents are brilliant as well – Lucy made all of the outfits that the kids are wearing in these photographs! They wanted to document this time together as a family and update their family portraits, as well as have a little snack picnic in their field and play with swords. It was the perfect summer evening outside. Their little boy picked a variety of wildflowers for me to take home to put in a vase, I met their adorable new rescue dog Rosie, and I witnessed the total failure of a spontaneous trust jump that somehow ended in minimal injury. They’re lovely and kind humans, and I always feel like family when I’m there.