Bio

Karen’s career began as a volunteer in east Tennessee, creating oral histories of local communities. She later joined the Virginian Pilot newspaper as a staff photographer, winning numerous honors including runner up for Newspaper Photographer of the Year and placing in the Robert F. Kennedy Awards. Karen then began freelancing for National Geographic Magazine, photographing 25 major stories. In 1999, Geographic awarded her their prestigious Photographer in Residence position, leading to her first book IMPACT: From the Front lines of Global Health. That book, followed by NURSE: A World of Care were both nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in community service.  Karen’s work explores science, environment, public health and global change issues. Karen is intrigued by how science allows us to understand ourselves and how that understand shapes our destiny. Her international coverage of the effects of radiation on humans received top honors in the Pictures of the Year competition. Her images have been featured in the prestigious Communication Arts Photography Annuals. Karen’s LLC, Little Black Dog Productions, creates audio-slide shows and videos for web and broadcast. Her recent collaboration with two colleagues and Blue Chalk Media produced a 30-minute documentary film, “Fall Seven Times, Get Up Eight,” which told the story of Japanese War Brides through the voices of three women who journeyed from Japan to America during the postwar years. The film was broadcast globally in 2015 by BBC World News. In 2009, Karen received the first ‘Grant for Good” from Getty Images to document the transition of a long-lived Tennessee-based environmental nonprofit. That year she also spoke at the first TEDx MidAtlantic in Baltimore, highlighting the need to visualize global health issues. Karen conducts story-telling workshops for universities and non-profits as well as leading photography trips for National Geographic Expeditions in Japan, Iceland, Antarctica, Greenland and the Galapagos. Her clients include National Geographic Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, New York Times, US News and World Report, GEO Magazine, Smithsonian, Catholic Relief Service, Gates Foundation, American Nursing Association, Emory University, John Hopkins University and Jhpiego. Karen holds undergraduate degrees in Anthropology and Religion from the University of Michigan. She was awarded a Knight Fellowship at Ohio University where she earned her M.A. in Photography and Visual Communication.