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.

Abby+Aaron // Newborn Twin Session

This family is quite near and dear to our hearts. As in, when Geoff and I had to spend our first Christmas in 32 years away from our own families, we spent it with Abby and Aaron’s. They are very, very precious to us and some of the most wonderful friends. If you want a backstory, here’s their engagement session, their wedding, and their session with their first newborn Logan. We also photographed Abby’s brother’s wedding here. And then all of a sudden one day Abby and Aaron were like, “WE’RE HAVING TWINS!” and we were like “WHAAAAT!” and they were like “WHAAAAT!” and now the family that I previously knew that consisted of 2 has been replaced with a family of 5 in a matter of years… and Abby is now seriously outnumbered by boys. :)

We’ve worked over the years with a number of sets of identical twins for some reason (I think this may be our 5th or 6th set), but this is our first newborn set… ones that aren’t old enough to have a wedding yet, let alone walk or talk. It was a bit intimidating, but thankfully they slept like the little baby angels that they are. Max, for the most part, is on the right hand side of the frame. Abby and Aaron claim he looks like Benjamin Button, and I can currently see the resemblance. Lucas, for the most part, is on the left hand side of the frame. And the excited looking sandy-haired toddler you see is Logan, now almost three, who has been happily upgraded to Big Brother status. And that’s me, over here in the corner, trying not to cry at the big beautiful family that I’m now kinda a small part of because I’ve invited myself over a lot and used to babysit their dog Casey. We love and adore each and every member of this family.

Katie+Cameron // Chapel Hill Family Session

Katie and Cameron were married in 2012 at Magnolia Manor in a wedding full of rope swing glory, and Katie and I have kept in touch since through our mutual love of cats. There has been good times with cats (YAY CATS!!) and bad times with cats (illnesses, and the unfortunate passing away of their adored cat Bug before our session), but through the thick and thin, I know I have someone to message and commiserate with when it comes to cats… and for that I am grateful. :) And now that they’re in a light-filled modernist house of awesome in Chapel Hill, we can also keep in touch with our mutual love of attempting to keep desert plants alive in a zone 8 climate with high humidity.

Now Katie and Cameron have an ADORABLE toddler named Grayson who enjoys playing with his furry brothers and sisters (brown doggo Birdie, black doggo Chevy, gray kitteh Tuna), as well as feeding them cat treats (dogs included), and picking up sticks and running around with them. His parents have excellent taste, so they bought him a Charley Harper tent which is the most beautiful and fantastic tent, but he doesn’t care to sit in it, so Tuna the cat has taken it over. When he’s not playing with sticks or throwing balls, he likes to pull flowering stems off Katie’s succulents despite our protests, and also throw his head back and make noises like a zombie (it’s a true skill). His parents are particularly proud of the zombie moaning that Grayson’s mastered, but Katie still maintains that her greatest accomplishment is having a kid who loves cats more than she does. We have a deep love for this family, and we’re so glad the incredible Grayson has joined their ranks (we’re pretty sure that Birdie and Chevy are grateful too since now they get to eat cat treats and bananas).

Gina+Pete+Elliott // Family Session.

Two things here.

First – Imma let you finish, but Elliott is the happiest baby OF ALL TIME. I know you might think you have a happy baby and you are like sure, sure, but then I dare you to look through these pictures and see what you think by the end of it. Your kid probably looks mega depressed now, doesn’t he? He is so ridiculously happy that I was afraid he might explode with joy, but much to our delight, he successfully stayed in one piece for the duration of the shoot. It’s possible that he’s not normally that happy, but rather that I don’t know the strength of my own charm and charisma. But, seeing as how no other babies, children, grown adults, nor pets have reacted this way, I can only assume it’s just Elliott. Perhaps he’s an alien (happiest best alien EVER!) or perhaps we just had a really great nap. Either way, we love him. He’s very charming.

Second – he is also the tallest baby ever. He’s 8 months old, but definitely is as tall as some toddlers I know, and basically half my height already. He’s going to be great at basketball.

Elliott, while stealing the majority of the spotlight, is accompanied by his parents Gina and Pete. They dressed him in striped footie pajamas that paid tribute to Sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino, who had died just before our session. Much respect. Gina and Pete are really cool and the most handy people we’ve ever encountered. Almost everything in their house has been built or sanded/stained or wired by Pete. He casually threw out there that he’s even made all the lamps and picture frames. They have an apple orchard they just planted! They have a backsplash they just tiled! They are crafty and cute and we like them too. Also in the adorable accessory department are Jethro (hound mix) and Cosima (German Shepherd) who are VERY GOOD boys and girls. Lots of sitting, lots of staying, lots of casually and cutely glancing at the camera. Fairly certain that Cosima has some sort of secret modeling pact with Elliott to land a high-profile baby food commercial together, and I don’t have a baby, but I’d still order whatever they were selling anyway.