PHOTOGRAPHS DON'T COME FROM YOU. THEY COME THROUGH YOU.
Hi, I'm Karen, an award-winning American photographer based in Michigan. I've created editorial, documentary, travel, food, and portrait photographs professionally since 2005. I work on client-commissioned as well as long-term personal projects.
Photographs are a window into our collective soul. Affirmation. Reformation. Confirmation. The single most powerful means of communication. A single photograph has the power unite, divide, change, and ultimately bond us together in the shared human experience.
I love people. Connecting. Sharing. Being in the world. I aim to make seemingly ordinary moments extraordinary through the lens. As a photographer, I enter lives, sometimes for only a fleeting moment, and slip away without my presence being known. Other times, I'm a deliberate, persistent presence in someone's space. I take something from every person I photograph. I try to give something in exchange. It is my hope that every photograph that comes through me creates empathy and agency for the people I experience in the world.
I study people near and far. I aim to unite through intimacy and quiet conversations. This is how I define my approach. This is why I photograph.
Why I Photograph .
At age 19, I boarded a plane with a backpack, passport, and a manual Pentax I bought with my first paycheck at age 16. I ventured to North Africa by way of Rome, then moved myself to Paris, where I lived, worked, and studied for the next many years. In that time, I slept on an open rooftop in Santorini for $3, "hitchhiked" on the bridge of a freight carrier bound for the Turkish coast, and traveled all of Ireland for a week by bus for less than $200.
Those times of freedom and adventure -- not safety and comfort -- are the happiest of my life.
I aim to own little. I travel anywhere -- full gear in tow -- in a single carry-on Osprey bag. My philosophy is travel light, try strange foods (Icelandic fermented shark, anyone?), and make lots of friends along the way.
I was raised a Gen X latchkey kid in a solid middle class home in Southeast Michigan. My dad was ta 34-year UAW auto worker and my mother made good on the feminist promise of her time. She began college when I was eight and ascended to Senior VP of a large commercial bank. My parents realized the American dream. Along with my younger sister, Jennifer, who died in 2002 at 23, ours was a happy home.
Having lived and traveled the world, I believe there's nowhere like living in Michigan: the smell of burning leaves on a crisp October day, hot donuts from the cider mill, and the thundering waves on Lake Michigan's shore. This place and these people are my home.
I have a B.A. in History from the University of Michigan with coursework at the Université Paris I - Sorbonne. I'm outgoing, creative, slightly OCD, ginger- and dog-obsessed. I live with my husband, our teenage son, and our crazy cavachon, Pickle.
Self-taught since 2005, I've photographed literally thousands of commissioned subjects and delivered more than 1 million finished images in my 20 years.
I seek to serve clients who share my belief in the power of the printed work, who trust my vision and execution, and who meet me in a place of courage and vulnerability. From that comes honest imagery that make us both feel seen and understood.
Please be in touch if I can be of service to you by calling me at 248.320.1943 (EST) to discuss your individual needs.
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