March 15, 2023

Documentary Family Photographer

Geoff and I photographed Chelsea and Austin’s wedding a few years ago down in North Carolina, but now they live in our hometown of Pittsburgh, PA! They absolutely love it and are even recruiting their NC family and friends to join them up north. They know I’m from there, so on a recent trip to my native city, I had the pleasure of reuniting with Chelsea and Austin in their home and taking family photos of them with their son Fox. Fox is an amazing kid with the best head of hair in the entire world and an extremely enthusiastic disposition to match. He is *high energy!* and likes *vacuuming!* and *unloading the dishwasher!* and *umbrellas!*. He is very excited about the fact that Chelsea is pregnant and that he’s about to become a big brother, and I know he’ll do an amazing job. Everyone deserves a sibling who is so excited, and Fox is the best.

You know who else will be a fantastic big brother in this household? VIRGIL. Virgil is an orange and white tabby cat and my hero. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cat who more closely resembles a cartoon version of a cat more in my entire life. We locked eyes and I fell in love with him instantly and he knew it, so then he proceeded to follow me around and presumably ask me for food, which I did not give him. But I did pet him. I love Virgil a whole lot. I also love this whole family a whole lot and am so excited for their family adventures with their new little girl. Congratulations friends, and thank you for having me!

Woman petting orange and white tabby cat

Family portrait with cat in home where boy is hugging cat

Orange and white tabby cat sitting on kitchen counter

Orange and white tabby cat standing on kitchen counter

Toddler unloading dishwasher and helping to hand dishes to his parents while tabby cat stands on counter

Toddler putting a spoon away in a kitchen drawer

Toddler jumping on chair while parents hold his hands

Orange and white tabby cat sitting on chair

Family portrait with toddler and pregnant mom

Parents smiling at toddler as he cleans room

Mom handing son a polkadot umbrella in the rain

Toddler walking around with umbrella in the rain

Parents taking a rainy day walk with toddler down the street

Dad getting pregnant wife cheese from the fridge

Parents eating snack with kid in the kitchen

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December 13, 2022

Kristen + Patrick

Yesss, my first couple family photo session since I’ve come back from retirement! It was so much fun to photograph Kristen and Patrick. I’ve known Kristen for a very long time, but this was my first time meeting Patrick, and they complement each other so well. I had a great time hanging out in their home, listening to records, making dinner, and having lots of laughs together to celebrate their one year wedding anniversary. They introduced me to compostable packaging spices (yesss), new tv shows, and a variety of amazing humorous fake band names that they keep a list of in case they ever decide to break into the industry. Until then, Patrick’s a gene therapy scientist and I learned about how certain genetic eye problems can be improved, and Kristen works in politics where she’s truly passionate about making a difference locally and nationally. We discovered that we all had slightly different versions of the same shoes, and it was just fun. Thank you for having me into your home and helping to be a part of your anniversary, guys!

Woman putting a record on a record player

Couple sitting in their living room during wedding anniversary photos

Editorial lifestyle couple photographs in Raleigh

Black and white photo of a couple in Raleigh home

Couple putting a record on a record player

Portrait of a couple at their home in Raleigh NC

Couple laughing on bed in home in Raleigh NC

Husband looking through spice drawer in kitchen

Couple making dinner together in kitchen at their home

Couple hugging in kitchen at home in Raleigh

Couple posing for photographs outside in Raleigh

Couple posing for black and white portrait

Couple portrait photographers in Raleigh

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November 28, 2022

Cat+Mitchell+Co.

I believe this is my 7th time photographing Cat and Mitchell and that calls for a toast… of gluten-free pizza… which we did immediately after the session. Cat might be my first gluten-free friend in NC, and I am incredibly grateful for her wisdom and guidance in my first months of diagnosis, and her resolute assurance that Italy was the absolute best vacation destination for the gluten-free (she was right). It’s been nice having a partner in rice-based recommendations. We don’t live super close to each other but we always try to base our get-togethers around food (which is the right choice), and we’re always trying new gluten-free restaurants. This session ended in us splitting multiple gf pizza flavors which resulted in two leftover boxes in the fridge (one for mine and one for Geoff), which their son Cameron labeled for us with a crayon, and it was very helpful.

I love these guys and I’m not sure what more there is to say. Cameron’s our bud and Sarah was a baby but now she’s our bud too. Sarah, I think, is just me somehow. Like my having photographed her parents enough somehow embedded my DNA into Cat and Mitchell and now Sarah is like, 25% Carolyn. She’s obsessed with Halloween and her favorite song is the Ghostbusters theme and Halloween and spooky things are really all she wants to talk about. I relate to that on a deep level. I need to work on getting her interested in cats (I tried to show her the pictures of our cats, but all she really wanted to see was a video of our 12ft skeleton at Halloween… I’ll work on it). I also have a lot in common with Cameron, who likes animals (especially their dog Biscuit) and basically any food that’s sweet. They are truly good, sweet, polite, funny, fantastic kids. But of course they are because Cat and Mitchell are their parents and they are wonderful people.

At home lifestyle family photos Raleigh Durham

Documentary family photographer Durham NC

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