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.
I love reconnecting with folks whose weddings we photographed back in the day, so I was very much looking forward to seeing Amanda and Jen again! But little did I know that I would pull up behind their house and hear a very emphatic “CAROLYN SCOTT!!!” from a small voice, which continued over and over again. Their incredibly gregarious daughter was so excited to meet me (the feeling was mutual) and she ran around saying things like, “Carolyn Scott, this is my house!” and “Carolyn Scott, these are my toys!” and “Carolyn Scott, let’s go to the playground!” I was addressed by my full name the whole time, which was delightful. At one point she also picked up a stick to use as a cane, put her hand on her back and said, “Look, I’m an old lady.” She’s great. Their son is also great – he enjoys the pastimes of walking and repeatedly falling, and also enjoys rolling down grassy hills. But my favorite thing about him is that he will not wait for the pizza to be cooked because why wait when you can just eat it right now? He would be a huge fan of the cold pizza Lunchable box. These guys made up such a beautiful, lively little family. It was so fun to see Amanda and Jen again, but really wonderful to see these confident and hilarious humans they’re raising.
I absolutely love this crew! Geoff and I photographed Dwight and Laurie’s wedding back in the day, and now Laurie is my beloved dentist! It’s been so cool watching their family grow and watching their daughter become the cat-crazed child that she is (their son is now also showing signs of intense feline fandom). I was extremely excited for this shoot because it’s been a year since I saw them, and last time I saw them, all their daughter and I did was talk cats. So I was pretty pumped to see my cat friend again, and she did not disappoint. There was even more cat art up this time in their playroom, and there was even a Fisher Price plane filled entirely with cats. She boarded the cats on the plane, and unboarded them, and put them in little “rooms” made of magnet tiles, and did not want me to photograph this. She said the cats were tired and sleeping and she could not keep boarding and unboarding them, but she also didn’t want to me photograph them sleeping in their rooms or getting on or off the plane. I had to respect this – the cats must be famous or have some sort of privacy clause agreement – but the many rubber cats on the older Fisher Price plane was one of the best things I had ever seen.
Their son, also extremely excited about cats but also excited about trucks and me (!) and wagons, also put a bunch of little rubber cats inside his Jeep and drove the cats around. He also really likes those waving maneki-neko Japanese cats, and this beautiful wooden truck that his grandpa made for him. He’s such a sweet boy and was very concerned that I would not be following them into the backyard for the outdoor portion of the shoot.
Then their real cat, Brie, made an appearance (their other cat Stilton did not want to join us this year), and there was intense cat hugging/cuddling. It reminded me of myself at that age with my own cat. (Laurie and Dwight – I had a full-size camcorder at the age of 6 that I made my sister use to film me on a show I wrote and directed called Catnip Live! where I would “interview” my cat with a microphone. I hope you have this in your future). It was a full-on cat fest with cat people and I’m glad I was there to document it.
