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 last photographed Sara and Sam back in May of 2015! So much has changed for them since then: different jobs, a different house, and now they have a darling son named Julian. The things that have not changed are Sara’s love for cats, Sam’s love for board games, and that both of them are still two of the nicest people in the world. Julian is busy keeping them on their toes: adorably yet intentionally dropping sweet potato on their beautiful kitchen rug juuuust off his plastic mat where it would be okay if food landed, making them drive him around in his sweet orange convertible race car wagon thing that inexplicably yet awesomely makes engine revving noises when you push the horn, and enjoying listening to his parents read him books about role-playing games. He’s a fast kid – on the verge of deciding whether he wants to walk or crawl everywhere but is fast at both, and clearly a cat lover at a very young age. Cats Biscuit and Miss Poofy (technically titled Lady Esmeralda von Poofington) made appearances: Miss Poofy living up to her dramatic name by suddenly jumping up and walking on the piano and then lounging on the piano bench. And we took some updated headshots of Sara while we were at it – she has a gorgeous new office where she works on astrology. It was so nice to see these guys again and to photograph their clearly very adorable and spunky young son! Also their cats… obviously.
It’s always a wonderful experience working for another photographer, especially one so talented as Victoria. She does amazing family photography work and I was so happy to get the chance to photograph her in front of the lens with her family. But the BEST part of this session was working with people from another country, which I absolutely love doing! I learn so much. Victoria and her husband Alexander are Russian, and they moved to the US just a few years ago. They just recently bought a house and wanted to document the new house, their family, as well as Victoria’s mother Natalia who was visiting from Russia. They have three boys: Svyat, Seva, and Serafim, as well as a dog named Alfonse and two cats named Tim and Philip (the very bestest cats). Svyat and Seva are fluent in both Russian (which they speak at home) and English (which they speak in school). But Serafim, the youngest, speaks only Russian.
I thought maybe Serafim might be a little afraid of me, not only because 50% of four year olds I photograph are outgoing and the other 50% are a bit wary, but he has the added challenge of me speaking a different language than him. But oh my goodness – NO. He constantly joked with me! He is HILARIOUS – a practical joker and just an overall extremely funny boy. And it was amazing how much we could communicate with just our facial expressions and kung fu moves/noises. I absolutely love him, he is great and kept me laughing the whole time. Svyat and Seva (who speak English as well as any American kid) were GREAT helpers who followed my directions so well and helped me translate to Serafim when needed. They are all truly amazing kids and I’m so impressed by this family’s love and sense of humor.
When I was charged with photographing this super sweet family, I was warned that the kids were fast. Like, super fast. I’m pretty used to fast kids but CAITI WAS RIGHT, THEY WERE SO FAST. Particularly Max, who was like photographing a bird, and sometimes he was in the frame and sometimes just kind of blurrily passing through it. But I adore photographing speedy children – they add a quality of movement and spontaneity that’s the whole reason I love photographing families. Max, the super fast older brother, lives at home with his chill, kind parents Caiti and Lou and his younger brother Leo. Leo is an adorable, adorable, adorable little mane of crazy blonde hair and a bit of a mischievous smile. Max is friendly, silly, and clearly destined for track and field. Together the brothers love having fun together. They play with trains, attempt to pet the cats (Monkey and Business… amazing cat names), play on their jungle gym in the backyard, and throw rocks in the creek. They warmed up to photos quickly and I’m fairly certain they’ll be excellent Carolyn Scott Photography interns in the future.
