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 16, 2023

Abbi+Olivia+Arlo // North Carolina Family Photographer

Abbi and Olivia! It had been a little over 5 years since I saw these two last! I photographed their engagement session and then they got married and then there was a pandemic and then they had a magnificent child named Arlo! They also adopted Basil, a second German Shepherd to be friends with Maizee (but really Basil is Arlo’s bff and buddy. Also Maizee’s bff and buddy. Also your bff and buddy and everyone’s bff and buddy). Arlo loves smiling and watching his Mama and Mom act like dinosaurs, which they do frequently and with great gusto. It’s really incredible to watch. The roars are intense. Arlo loves it. Arlo loves building with blocks and watching Basil swim in the pool. Arlo also loves playing with video game controllers and with his (badass) toy staple gun. Yes, it makes staple gun noises. Yes, it’s the best thing I’ve ever seen. And yes, I grabbed it and pretended to staple my clients because that’s what you do with a toy staple gun.

But what Arlo really, really loves is being turned upside down. I think he would’ve let us keep him upside down forever except that’s probably not safe so we made him take breaks but wow. He really loves being upside down when he’s not stapling things. He is heckin’ cute. He’s even more heckin’ cute when we goes swimming but we didn’t put him in a swim diaper so his diaper grew 3 sizes that day and he had a giant baby butt and we just love Arlo. Maizee, the black German Shepherd, is a polite lady who enjoys eating snacks and hanging around with all her friends. Basil is a high-energy ball of barking who is obsessed with tiny balls of reflected light that come from watches, rings, and cameras. She also enjoys swimming and fetching and protecting Arlo and responding to the word “squirrel” with lots of enthusiasm! I’m so happy for this family of 5. They’re so sweet and so kind and I’m glad to know them. I’m also glad that they introduced me to toy staple guns.

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May 23, 2023

Christie+Ty+Oscar+Vera // Family Photographer in Durham, NC

THESE GUYS! We have become fast friends with this family through our mutual love of horror movies and rock music and cats and fun clothes and cheese and skeletons and 28 Days Later. We love them very much. Their children are A TOTAL BALL OF ENERGETIC FUN that could probably power a small country if someone could figure out a way to plug them into the power grid. They’re fast. They’re wild. They like Andrew WK dance parties and they’re obsessed with the movie Labyrinth. There has never been anyone in my entire life that’s ever been more excited to see me than Oz. Spoiler alert to my own self-esteem: I think maybe Oz is excited to see everyone, but I’m going to keep pretending that he likes me the most.

Both Vera and Oz launch straight into 10 minute overlapping monologues when I see them, and then once I’ve been whirlwind updated and usually assigned a pair of sunglasses or a specific spot that they’d like me to sit, they will usually take turns sitting with me and telling me about Pokemon or Peppa the Pig until they go to bed. They are absolute sweethearts and totally wild and I hope they never change. The entire family, like myself, loves what Christie calls “aggressively patterned” colorful clothes, and I think this is the best description ever. There are also 2 cats: Eggroll, who is my best friend forever orange boy, and Jayne, who is a beautiful white cat who also likes me but really also loves her sleeping spot in the closet. There are also 2 dogs: Butters and Klaus, both Corgis, both love eating hot dogs that Vera accidentally drops on the floor. I love them all and want to scoop up this entire family and give them a giant hug or live with them forever in a bounce house.

Siblings during at home family portraits in durham sit on couch

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May 18, 2023

Sara+Joe+Julian // Durham Family Photographer

Sara and Joe are some of our best friends and neighbors. Wonderful movie-watchers, concert-goers, and extremely reliable when you text them on vacation because you left your alarm on and it’s been going off for hours and the cats are upset, or there’s an invasion of ants in your kitchen. We adore them. Geoff and I photographed their wedding back in 2015 (!) and then we ran into Joe in the parking lot of Harris Teeter at like, 10pm some random weeknight a year later and then we all started hanging out. They’re good people and we love them. And now they have Julian, a toddler who is constantly competing for Cutest Baby in the Land, and does so by growing his eyes bigger every day. He is… INSANELY cute. It’s like if you were to ask someone to draw a very cute toddler, it would just be a picture of Julian. Julian is obsessed with cats (the only way to be) and spends his time frantically chasing after his older feline siblings, Cloud and Usagi, while calling after them in a comically high-pitched voice. It’s my favorite thing to witness. The cats aren’t sure how to handle this yet. Max the dog, however, dutifully follows Julian around, waiting for him to drop a bit of food on the ground that he can pick up. Max is one of my very favorite dogs, and was the first dog to ever cuddle with me. He still cuddles with me during movies and it continues to be a great honor. I love all the people and animals that live in this house, and it was so fun to photograph them all in one space. Thank you guys – for turning off my alarm and for being great friends.

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