I have known Karen since she photographed my children and their cousins when they were small. How precious those beautiful photographs are to me! AND to the grown up children of whom a few, even now, post one as their Facebook cover photo!

 

She has a warmth of manner  - a 'simpatia’ - that allows her subjects - young or old - to simply relax and be themselves - as though they were ‘charmed' rather than ‘captured' by her lens.

 

Now that I have discovered the album of Karen's life in Italy - mapping the changing seasons in her beloved Lunigiana - it appears she is not only charmed by the environment but, once again, the subject is charmed by her watchful eye; the bumble-bee poses for her lens as though it enjoys being observed - as does the cat, the frog, the butterfly;  The still-lives are spontaneous, uncontrived; the winter landscapes morph into Japanese watercolours, clouds evoke a baroque fresco and summer leaves become a pointillist's oil painting.

 

She has the eye of a magician!

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The joyful relish and abandon with which she explores her Italian home - discovering magical beauty in the

simplest subjects - is palpable!

 

It seems that she conjures everything around her into the poetry of myth and fable - even real fairies appear for Karen!

 

She has the ability through her lens to transform her surroundings - macro or wide-shot - into a fairytale world!

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