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.

At home with Rachel+Kevin // Durham, NC

Rachel and Kevin had the super good fortune of not only giving birth to a beautiful baby girl, but also having her a few days before we sent our camera equipment away for a couple weeks to Canon for yearly maintenance. ;) We were hoping Evelyn Grace made her appearance on her due date, Jan 31st, and she thankfully made a timely arrival on February 1st. This enabled us to meet and photograph her in the adorable curled-up baby stage before they start throwing their limbs around all over the place. :)

We met the new parents at their home where they introduced us to Evelyn, who is a big fan of sleeping, napping, swaddling, sleeping, eating, and avoiding facing the camera at all times (don’t worry, babies are slow, so I was able to photograph her several times facing me before she caught on and turned the other direction). She is freaking adorable, with a little head full of hair and really adorable baby clothes and baby things. When my sister and I were little we had a babydoll we called Baby Evelyn, so I was even partial to her name. ;)

We were also introduced to Shirley, a tuxedo cat who has that amazing cat ability to sense when a door is suddenly opened into a room they’re not normally allowed to go in, enabling them to make a run for it, go into the “forbidden room”, and jump into the newborn’s crib to cuddle up with a stuffed elephant. Bandit, their tabby cat, also has that exact same the-door-is-open-to-the-forbidden-room-quick-lets-go-in-it cat sense, and hides under the crib. Clearly, it’s just a giant cat bed. Nora, their hound, who seemed like she was much more interested in cheese than her new baby sister, did not get in the crib.

Rachel and Kevin were just as much of a joy to work with as all the smaller creatures in their house, and it was such an honor to come into their home and photograph their little ones. :)

Courtney+Kyle+Patti+Roy // At home.

We do a lot of important stuff like photographing weddings and babies and engagements and all that good, happy stuff that usually signifies beginnings rather than endings. This shoot was a little different. Courtney, whom we met a friend’s wedding a couple years ago, contacted us because her parents were selling Courtney and her brother Kyle’s childhood home. They were pretty bummed out about it, but with the kids gone (Courtney) or going away (Kyle), it was time for Patti and Roy to downsize. Courtney wasn’t going without a fight, though, and hired us to photograph her and her family hanging out inside their house one last time before the family moves in January. We felt incredibly honored to do this type of shoot as we knew how important it was for the family, and it was kind of our first shoot that signified an ending. Of course, it’s a beginning too with Kyle going off to college and the parents moving into a new house, but it was the end of one phase of life and the beginning of another, and for some reason it made me feel the significance of our job probably more than I ever have previously. We were really happy to do this for them.

Of course, the fact that the family is super awesome, hilarious, and fun didn’t hurt much either. They made us food (yum!) and welcomed us in with open arms and Vanilla Coke. We ran around their gorgeous house and yard and had a great time. Courtney and Kyle showed us how they climbed on the roof as kids, how they play board games and pool and hang out in the kitchen, how they fish and play baseball, and how they decorate the tree planted in their grandpa’s memory for Christmas. The cats hid from us, but… we tried. :) We loved doing this type of shoot, and we hope that we were able to capture their awesome family doing what they love in a space that they grew up in and called home.

At Home with Kelsey+Drew // Durham, NC.

Kelsey and Drew are my jam, you guys. Kelsey would always send me amazing emails during their engagement, and we shot their engagement session way  back in 2011 at a baseball field with them and their adorable pup Miley. Then their wedding came along in 2012 and there were also amazing emails during that time as well, and then life settled in and Kelsey eventually (*sniffsniff*) moved on from emailing me mostly because she, you know, actually had things to do. And then one day recently she e-mailed me! And I was super excited because we loved Kelsey and Drew! And now they were back! And pregnant! And expecting a little boy! And they asked us to photograph him which is a super honor for us. We just started doing these family sessions recently and it’s really been a joy for us, so it’s great to now be able to follow our clients through their different phases of life. :)

Baby Cooper was supposed to be born on October 31, but he took his good ‘ole time and, as Kelsey put it, was eventually evicted out of necessity. :) But I can’t say that he was late because he was afraid of joining his new family… this boy is right at home. He was fussy maybe once during the session but no crying at all… and he slept and smiled and gazed in the general direction of Geoff’s beard (because although he couldn’t see it, I’m sure he could sense the power). His nursery is aviation themed and he donned little striped footie pajamas with a little bear piloting his own airplane and a tiny aviation hat and it was so, so cute. We are thrilled to welcome Cooper into Kelsey and Drew’s amazing family, and we are so happy to be able to do this for them. :)