Ohhh, today is such a happy blog post! Not that any of them are unhappy, but this one is just plain cute. :)

Meet the men of the hour: fraternal twins Will (on left) and Ryan (on right). How adorable are they!? Just the sweetest things! They will be turning one year old in early June, so these are their first year portraits. :) We took a bunch with super cool mom and dad, too! Mom is the incredibly talented force behind Mae Armstrong Designs; she does custom invitations, stationary, and all sorts of really incredibly crafty projects. I am pretty much addicted to her Facebook fan page feed already as I envy anyone who can sew and has the ability to turn an old shirt into an awesome skirt. Really! And, if anyone is thinking Dad looks familiar, he’s the evening Sports Anchor on ABC11! How do I get such cool clients?!

Will and Ryan aren’t crafting or reading news prompters yet, but rest assured they are destined for greatness… but we’ll have to wait until they can walk first. For now, they’ll just sit around the NC State Arboretum looking really really cute:

Will: “Why am I sitting in this ivy?”

Ryan: “Who, me?”

This picture absolutely cracks me up. So – for those of you to do child portraits – you know that you’ll spend most of the session making goofy faces and sounds and pretty much standing on your head. Will and Ryan could see through my antics and the below picture shows them questioning the particular circus show I was performing at the time.

Ryan modeling his Blue Steel face.

True story: The bear below is none other than Snuggles. Yes, like from the dryer sheet commercials. When I was 5 years old my family took me to some Family Day type thing at the park, but you could enter your name into a contest to win prizes. However, the prizes were totally random (maybe they weren’t… I need my mom to help fill in some of these details), but long story short – I won… a hammer. Yes, the city officials gave a 5 year old a hammer as a door prize. Needless to say, I cried. A lot. Because what I had really wanted was Snuggles… and because what was I going to do with a hammer. So the officials gave in and traded the hammer out for Snuggles, and happily home I went. 20 years later, Snuggles now lives with us in North Carolina and has been re-purposed as a hand puppet for small children I photograph. He’s happy with his new job, and the kids love him. Way to go, Snuggles!

Vogue it, boys!

Aren’t these little gentlemen the cutest? You boys will look back on this twenty-some years later and your girlfriends will LOVE these! :D

Yay, Jenna and Josh!! It has been a while since we scheduled this and I had been looking forward to working with them since photographing their furry children, Jack and Lola. And they were troopers. We walked a lot through the woods and on top of locks of rocks with Jenna in uncomfortable shoes and Josh doesn’t like having his picture taken. :) But we conquered both shoe and camera uncomfortableness to have a wonderful session! I love the colors in this one and, considering the awful weather we’d had last week, I was happy to see the sun again for this session.

Jenna and Josh live together in Oxford where Jenna is a pharmacy tech and Josh is a narcotics officer for the Sheriff’s Department. They’re having a backyard wedding in September. :)

Raleigh engagement photographer Raleigh engagement photographer

They both have the nicest smiles. It’s like a dentist commercial, really.

Raleigh engagement photographer Raleigh engagement photographer North Carolina wedding blog North Carolina wedding blog

Thanks for being good sports, guys. :) You know I just had to pose them in front of the ridiculous bird silhouettes sign. I’m sure this wasn’t what Jenna was envisioning for her portraits, but you have to stick a few interesting ones in there for amusement. ;)

engagement session Raleigh wedding photographers Raleigh engagement engagement portraits Raleigh

Geoff was dragonfly’ed.

dragonfly hat engagement portraits Raleigh engagement portraits Raleigh engagement portraits Raleigh engagement portraits Raleigh woodsy engagement session engagement portraits Raleigh engagement portraits Raleigh engagement portraits Raleigh

Josh told me that Jenna tends to be picky about pictures of herself, so I hope you can find some that you like, Jenna. ;) I think you look beautiful!!

Meet Ashley and Rodney, a very sweet and adorable couple from Zebulon, NC who are planning a wedding for 2012. :) Rodney proposed to Ashley on February 13th of this year and they’re just in the beginning stages of planning… not yet in the throes of planning panic quite yet. ;) Ashley contacted me for an engagement shoot at Perry’s Pond, a quiet little place a little north of Zebulon near Bunn. Her mother had her senior portraits taken here and the local high school still does a lot of senior portraits on this piece of land. Ashley changed high schools before they took their group senior shot here, so unfortunately she wasn’t able to have pictures here… until now! :) And a beautiful woodsy location it is! And although we would’ve loved for the sun to be out, it was at least warm and the rain held off to mere drizzle for 95% of the time, so it was a success!

Perry's Pond engagement

Ashley has such a sweet smile and gorgeous eyes! And Rodney is such a sweetheart. They’re both really kind, down-to-earth people.

Perry's Pond engagement session Zebulon engagement photographer Raleigh engagement photographer Engagment session

Oh, and meet Brodie too! :) How could we forget him. Here he is, below, smiling for the camera (love those teeth). Brodie is a Peekapoo and nothing, really, but a large ball of the softest fur on planet Earth. He is adorable, fiesty, and easily distracted… and I love him a lot!

engagement sessions with dogs

For those of you who’ve had a session with me, you know my tendency to walk backward without watching where I’m going and tripping, falling, and generally causing a scene. That said, this was a particularly dangerous location for me with all the rocks and water. ;) But I survived without a scratch!

Perry's Pond engagement session engagement session with dog Raleigh pet photographer engagement session with dog Zebulon engagement session Perry's Pond engagement session

Quick change of clothes and some drizzle later… my favorite picture of the day!

Rainy engagement session rainy engagement session Raleigh engagement photographer rainy engagement session umbrellas engagement session umbrellas engagement session rainy engagement session Carolyn Scott Photography Raleigh wedding photographer

Ashley and Rodney, you are wonderful! I hope you, your family, and Brodie enjoy the pictures. :)