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.

We’ve been lucky enough to have Tiffany and Neal in our lives for nine years now (!). We first shot their engagement session long ago, then the Christening ceremony for their first daughter Natalie. Tiffany, who once bought me a very wonderful bat scarf that I still wear all the time, runs an award-winning events planning company and we worked on several weddings together. And in between all the events and the coffee dates and photo shoots, they’ve always been our friends (for better or for worse – they agreed to have cocktails with us the other night and Neal unfortunately ordered a cocktail that I announced smelled literally like garbage that needed to be taken out… and then no one could “unsmell” it… and his cocktail was ruined. Sorry, Neal). It’s an honor to be asked to photograph the Christening of their second daughter Marion (who is like a mini Natalie at this age!), complete with Reverend Barbara Lodge and their family members. So happy to have this family as our friends and a huge congratulations on the birth and Christening of Baby Marion.

Yes, you read that title correctly: A Raleigh Cat Photography Session. MY DREAM. Photography is fun but photography involving petting cats is even better. And photographing cats named entirely with puns is EVEN BETTER THAN THAT. For those who aren’t aware, I’m doing a fundraiser during the months of January and February for Safe Haven for Cats, a Raleigh non-profit no-kill shelter for feline friends. They rely on donations and volunteers to keep their shelter running, and I believe in what they do (it’s also where we adopted our own fuzzbucket cats so I’m a little biased). Because they rely on donations and I wanted to give back, I’m giving 50% of my photography fee to Safe Haven for all cat sessions at the moment, and I’m so glad that Liz and Mitchell participated!

Liz is related to the fab couple that is Dottie and Jon (she’s Jon’s sister) and I’ve worked with her before at a few family related weddings! Liz is just incredible – hilarious and generous and loves her cats. Turns out that her boyfriend Mitchell is the same way. Liz said that Mitchell would prefer an entire farm full of cats if he could, and I 100% agree and will ask them to live there if they ever make this cat farm a reality. All of their cats are rescues and are absolutely gorgeous. Catsby is the gray+white longhaired cat who has a constant look of, “WHAT?!” but is very friendly and outgoing. Aristocat is the ragdoll cat who is so gorgeous but also insaaaanely friendly and outgoing. Part of this might have to do with the fact that I gave her treats upon my arrival but she’s truly a gentle, loving cat. The middle child is Catalie, all black, who was not entirely sure about the whole thing but came out for a fewwww pictures before returning to hiding underneath the couch (2/3 cat wins ain’t bad). I absolutely love working with people who adore their animals at this level, and it was a delight working with Liz and Mitchell. Thank you guys so much for having me in your home and participating in the Safe Haven fundraiser!

Ohhh, I had SO much fun with this family! This is one of those cases where my client warns me repeatedly about how awkward and terrible they’ll be in front of the camera, but they end up being total naturals and the easiest people to work with. They were fantastic. Deidre, Eric and I clicked immediately – they have great senses of humor and appreciate the same great things in life like video games and Starbursts. Braelyn, however, took some convincing. Lucky for me, she adores her parents and they have zero qualms about turning her upside down, so we did get her to smile at them (before she remembered I was there). And she has THE cutest smile. Plus she’s like a baby savant. I knew she was only 1, so the chances of her walking were not great yet, but Eric set her down and she ran across the room like a little crazy person. Then she was shooting hoops with ease! And taking apart and putting back together my lens caps with incredible fine motor skills! She’s a smaaaart little baby. And so, so, so cute, just like her adorable parents. So happy to have done the first family photos for this great crew!