Carolyn van Houten is an American documentary photographer and photojournalist whose work brings some of the biggest stories in the world back to the people living through them. Migration, climate change, conflict, human rights and social issues have taken her photographing in more than 50 countries across every continent.
Her route into photojournalism was anything but predictable. Growing up on a farm in rural North Carolina, Carolyn initially went to the University of North Carolina intending to study astrophysics. Then she discovered photojournalism, changed direction and, rather suddenly, found herself on a whirlwind ride through internships at newspapers, the White House and National Geographic, followed by the San Antonio Express-News and eventually The Washington Post.
During almost nine years at the Post, Carolyn worked on stories ranging from migration and abortion to climate change and life under the Taliban. Her work with the Post team on 2°C: Beyond the Limit shared the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting, while The Road to Asylum earned her the Robert Capa Gold Medal. Her later work includes Abused by the Badge, documenting survivors of child abuse by law-enforcement officers, Silenced: Women Under the Taliban, Hunting ISIS in Somalia or Fiji’s Impossible Choice.
At the heart of Carolyn’s photography is a very human approach: getting close, building trust and trying to understand the individual behind the headline. In 2026, after The Washington Post laid off its entire photography staff, Carolyn began a new chapter as a freelance photojournalist based in Washington, D.C.