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.

Amanda+Joe // Wake Forest Family Session

Amanda and I have been internet friends for some time, and I was so incredibly honored to photograph her family for her. She is an incredibly talented birth photographer operating as Raleigh Birth Photography. And seriously, if you want your birth photographed, she’s your girl. She’s also a wonderful human being, loving wife to Joe, and fantastic mother to two boys. Our job was to capture Amanda, Joe, Michael, and Lucien as the family of four that they are now, because a new baby is on the way shortly! Then in November, we’ll be back to photograph the new family of five. Amanda told me that she thinks there’s something so interesting about seeing how family dynamics change as a new member is added, and I couldn’t agree more. I can’t wait to see what happens in November! Michael and Lucien are THRILLED about this baby. Like, way, way, way, way excited. They talk to the baby, kiss the baby, discuss the baby, and are plenty prepared to help their parents when baby arrives. They are planning a homebirth and Michael’s job is to tell his parents whether it’s a boy or a girl, and he’s seriously stoked about this responsibility.

When not planning for baby, Michael and Lucien enjoy roughhousing with Joe (who is a great dad wrestler!), playing with Legos, putting on capes, and interrupting any quiet portrait moments between their folks. They also enjoy water fights (which I believe Amanda won, given that she’s pregnant so is the one holding the hose, and therefore has the most firepower) and popsicles. The boys also put sugar on their french toast, which is a tradition from Amanda’s side of the family. This family is also home to the WORLD’S CUTEST DOG named Aria (who really wants to eat said french toast). And while she definitely looks straight-up Dire Wolf, she was named before Game of Thrones, and spells her name a little differently. ;) She is the tiniest Husky I have ever met, and I want to hug her forever and ever and never stop. She is a little fuzzy old lady and I don’t think I’ve ever met anything as cute. She enjoys belly rubs and pets and is very patient. Super excited to rejoin this adorable crew in November to meet their newest member (and to hug their dog again).

Anne+Brian+Wyatt.

Anne and Brian are near and dear to our hearts. I’ve photographed Anne as a bridesmaid and a fiancee, as well as her bridal portraits AND her wedding, so I believe this is my 5th time photographing her if my very basic math skills are correct. ;) And this time she is a mother! She and Brian are the proud parents of the most adorable kid to hate hats this side of the sun. His name is Wyatt, and he is full of energy, inquisitive looks, and I believe I mentioned hatred of hats but it’s worth repeating. This kid hates hats. And much in the spirit of his feline brother Pippin (and cats everywhere), he didn’t want to do something simply for the fact that he got the sense that we wanted him to do it. This was evident by the small smirk on his face each time he plucked the hat off his head and threw it on the ground. Somewhere in the background I believe we heard the soft refrain of “I ain’t gonna be part of this system.”

In between sessions of throwing his hat on the ground, he walked around the arboretum and the sunflower field with his two loving parents and was freaking adorable. Look at that hair! Those overalls! He’s a peach. So, obviously, are Anne and Brian who are such sweet and loving parents! Can’t say I’m surprised as they’ve always been sweet and loving to everyone, but they have such a bond with this little guy. A bond strong enough to repeatedly try to put a hat on his head despite his thwarting them at every turn. And if that isn’t unconditional parental love, I don’t know what is. So happy and thrilled to be a part of this family’s continued photo history!

“I ain’t gonna be part of this system.”

Kathy+Andrew // Raleigh Family Portraits

Kathy and Andrew are beloved previous wedding clients of ours from way back in 2012 where their wedding culminated in a fierce game of competitive ping pong. We’ve since followed their many adventures living in Chicago, and now their current adventures back in the Triangle. Most of these adventures involve Andrew decorating his beard in some way, or pictures of their adorable cats Brewer (tabby!) and Addy (calico!). Now they’ve embarked on the brand new adventures of both homeownership and parenthood, and kindly asked us to capture a bit of both. Their newest addition’s name is Alden, and his favorite activities involve staring into your soul with intense, prolonged eye contact the likes of which I’ve never seen in a baby, and hanging out with his mom and dad (in between staring into their souls as well). And when I mean he stares into your soul, I mean HE STARES INTO YOUR SOUL. It’s the type of eye contact where you’re like, woah! I feel like this person knows literally everything about me right now, and I’m a bit uncomfortable, even though it’s a baby. He definitely is 100% probably clairvoyant. If I photograph him as a toddler or a teenager, I may make Kathy and Andrew sign a nondisclosure agreement depending on how discreet he is with his release of information.

When he’s not finding out literally everything about you via telepathy, he makes cute faces and has adorable cheeks and hangs out in his rad house. The cats aren’t troubled by him (probably because he’s able to communicate with them mentally somehow) and allowed us to give them some belly rubs while we were there! We did not give belly rubs to Kathy or Andrew despite them also being adorable, but I might have pat Kathy on the head once or twice because I like her haircut. We are quite happy to see our clients doing fab things years later, and we loved meeting the littlest members of Kathy and Andrew’s home!