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.

June 4, 2025

Lucy, Bill + Mary // Family Photography

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.

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May 23, 2025

Quentin + Lady // Backyard Garden Couple Session

These friends! The last time I photographed Quentin and Lady was back in 2012, and while we’ve stayed in touch, it was absolutely delightful to see them in person again. They wanted to have some photos taken of them in their incredible backyard garden and zen space with their two rescue dogs Ruthie (bigger pup) and Lily (smaller pup), who are the World’s Goodest Girls. When I say their garden is incredible, I mean their garden is incredible. It’s like a tiny Duke Gardens but with fruits and vegetables and wildflowers in addition to the magnolias and everything else. There are paths and birdhouses and bird baths and a firepit and a beautiful dinner table and a large grassy space that makes you want to lie down and roll around on it, which is exactly what Lily and Ruthie like to do. We walked around the garden and ate strawberries and chocolate mint and talked about birds like the old people we are. It was a beautiful afternoon spent with two beautiful people and two beautiful pups.

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April 21, 2025

Jen + Jon // Raleigh Family Photographer

These are our BUDS. Always happy to photograph them as clients but more happy to photograph them as some of our best friends. Last year we did an on-location shoot but this year we went back to their house because SamSam, their dog, felt left out and missed me too much. I don’t know what to say about these folks that I haven’t said before but it bears repeating that I love them and I’m grateful to have friends who are family down here. We watch a lot of bad movies and occasionally some good movies and we celebrate holidays and birthdays and go through good things and bad things together and sometimes I take their pictures. Their oldest son and I are buddies – we hang out at Geoff and Jon’s softball games together where he tells me important things like “I went to Target today” and asks the hard hitting questions such as “How far is your house from here?” and about 50 other questions that start with “why” in an hour’s time. Their youngest son, who has been slightly more wary of me, is now big smiles and I’m pleased to report that he voluntarily ran up and pushed me during this session while giggling and running away, which is his first voluntary interaction with me. Soon we’ll be best buds too. However, their first and oldest child, dog SamSam, will always make sure that I’m her best friend first and foremost and will bowl over all children and people in the process (I’m going to pretend she’d do this even if I didn’t give her treats).

say nice things

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