This month, the exceptionally creative and always engaging Karen Messick returns to SSCC to show us her latest adventures in photography. It’s no surprise that Karen is an award-winning photographer. In her nearly two decades of shooting, she’s won high acclaim for her sense of design, color, composition, and placement of subject elements. She is known in particular for the striking patterns in her nature close-ups.

Besides traditional photography, Karen has embraced imaging with high dynamic range Page 6 Cable Release December 2013 software as well as artistic adaptations of her images with plug-in software. Most recently, she has gained a fine reputation for her exciting creations through iPhoneography.

With a strong commitment to education, Karen teaches Intro to Digital Photography and iPhone Photography at Johns Hopkins University in the Odyssey Program. She has led workshops in her home city of Baltimore, Delaware, New Mexico, Virginia, and Ireland. In addition to leading her own workshops through Karen L. Messick Photography, she has conducted workshops and given lectures for Penn Camera / Calumet, Horizon Photography Workshops, and the Capital Photography Center. She has also lectured on composition and design during FotoWeek DC and the Nature Visions Expo in Virginia.

Karen has long been a supporter of camera clubs and served as president of the Baltimore Camera Club from 2006-2010.

As part of her own education, Karen has participated in workshops and excursions with professional nature photographers, John and Barbara Gerlach in northern Michigan and Yellowstone as well as workshops sponsored by The Rocky Mountain School of Photography, with Doug Johnson and Tim Cooper in Glacier National Park. She has also attended photographic seminars by The Nikon School, Rod Plank, Brenda Tharp, Moose Peterson, Tony Sweet, Rick Sammons, and John Sexton.

Karen has written instructional articles and had portfolio pieces published in iPhone Life Magazine and Nature Photographer Magazine, for which she is currently a field contributor. Photographs by Karen Messick are held in the photography collections of the University of Maryland / Baltimore County Campus. Currently, her images are on display at Baas Fine Art Gallery in Seattle and More Than Fine Framing in Ruxton, MD. In the past ten years, Karen has exhibited her work in Washington State, Delaware, and Maryland, including the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Karen’s Websit: www.karenlmessickphotography.com