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.

I worked with all of these folks back in 2018 when Jen and Jon got married but now the flower girls are not as little and Jen and Jon have two adorable boys and all of the adults’ backs hurt just a little bit more. :D It was so wonderful to reunite with everyone here for a big extended family photo session! We took multi-generation family portraits, played some badminton in the yard, hung out with Savvy and Poppet (the adorable dog and cat duo of the house), and had a pumpkin carving contest! The pumpkins were then lit in the dining room and voted on. The puking pumpkin won, which the cousins were very excited about and rightly so. It was a ton of fun spending a beautiful fall afternoon with this great group of people, and I hope a new yearly competitive pumpkin carving competition becomes a tradition!

It was such a joy to photograph Annie and James enjoying a weekend morning at their home with their kids! We photographed their wedding in 2014 and it was so nice to see them again! Their two girls are an absolute delight – funny, intelligent, and full of spunk. They enjoy riding their bikes, hanging out in their yard with their sweet dog Luna, building forts with their Buc-ee’s blankets, and making special family recipe pancakes. I had a great time learning about all their stuffies and being introduced to the world of Buc-ee’s, which I wasn’t previously familiar with but now I think I know what to expect should I ever run across one (it sounds delightful). I loved photographing a little slice in time for this amazing family!

I was trying to explain to a client the other day that I often never know when photographs are going to be truly special or carry extra meaning. Most of the time I photograph everyday things for everyday reasons, and those photographs (while obviously meaningful in and of themselves) take on extra special meaning later when a loved one passes or there’s a new member of the family that comes along. Rarely do I know when photos have extra weight immediately, but this was one of those cases. They’re always bittersweet to me to document and it’s at these times where I feel an extra privilege at being invited and included in a big moment of a family’s history.

Ashley and Jon own a historic farm in Pittsboro that is absolutely gorgeous. It’s a beautiful property and they’ve loved their time there. But they recently sold it and it’s time to move, so I was called in to help the family photograph an evening at their home before they go. They got to hang out with their donkeys (!!), their pigs (!!), their chickens (!!), their dog Stella, and – last but certainly, certainly NOT LEAST – their kitten named Big Head Bighetti Spaghetti Man, who was born on the farm and intensively handled by three kids so he’s become the most agreeable cat in the world. I even held him for many minutes until I thought “maybe I should give this cat back” even though I didn’t want to. I also want to give Big Head Bighetti the Best Named Cat Award because it’s truly the best name for a cat I’ve ever heard.

Anyway – I had the best time at this family’s farm hanging out with them and documenting their life and love together there. They’re excited about their move but it was so important for them to have photos in this place that was their home for years and I’m happy I got to be a part of this big moment in their lives. Cheers to happy endings and new beginnings!