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Karen Olson

Conceptual and Fine Art Prints

Images on this site are available for purchase

Photos from the series ‘Between Two Worlds’, ‘Wildheart’, and the ‘Empathy’ series are currently available as limited edition fine art prints.

View a selection of limited edition prints here.

For additional availability please contact me via email karen@karenolsonphotography.com

Send me a note - I would love to hear from you!

karenolson.photography

‘Bliss’ . Celebrate the joyful moments. Revel

‘Bliss’
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Celebrate the joyful moments. Revel in them. Talk about them out loud. Etch them in your memory. Hold them together in a collection that you can return to again and again.
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#empathyphotoseries #karenolsonphotography #maineartist #celebratelife #holdingspace

‘Inner Landscape’ . #empathyphotoseries #karen

‘Inner Landscape’
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#empathyphotoseries #karenolsonphotography

“Touch” . Today is ‘Special Offer Friday.’

“Touch”
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Today is ‘Special Offer Friday.’
One of two artist proofs of this image from the ‘Empathy’ series, offered for a limited time.
$90 Includes shipping to the US.
Click the special offers link on the page in my bio.
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#supportanartist #empathyphotoseries #karenolsonphotography

Printing and naming complete. 14 Images made the c

Printing and naming complete. 14 Images made the cut for ‘Empathy.’
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This was a really tough one. It was deeply personal but I felt so strongly that empathy is something we all need to express and to receive more than ever right now. My project statement begins below.
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What is empathy? What does it look like, feel like, how is it expressed? These are the questions that kept coming back again and again. If empathy were an image what would it be? One thinks at first of an offering, one hand in another, or an embrace. But empathy expressed is more than a single action. It is not static and cannot be in displayed in one sentence or sole act of kindness. It is support, jumping to catch someone falling, carrying the weight they cannot carry, letting that someone collapse in your arms. It is fluid and adaptable, it is consistent….
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The remainder of the project statement and images can be found via the link in my bio.
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#karenolsonphotography #empathyphotoseries #empathy

Giving birth to the ‘Empathy’ project. Test pr

Giving birth to the ‘Empathy’ project. Test prints and naming. This project has been 7 months in the making.
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#empathyphotoseries #karenolsonphotography #empathy #empathymatters

“Behind the Lens 2021: Women in Photography” i

“Behind the Lens 2021: Women in Photography” is up at the Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts. @riphotoarts
This is a fabulously interesting show, a “virtual exhibition in a physical space.” So innovative! Really wishing I could travel to Rhode Island to see the show in person.
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Thank you David DeMelim @daviddemelim for inviting me and Grace Marie DeWitt @gracemdewitt for curating the show!
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You simply must take a look at the virtual walk through. Find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhcjoPX9HTM
My screenshots from the walk through don’t do it justice.

New evening practice, learning the language of wea

New evening practice, learning the language of weaving, or more accurately, relearning. I find the process calming, relaxing...the perfect thing to restore my brain and prepare for sleep.

It’s finished! My little artist studio/living sp

It’s finished! My little artist studio/living space is complete!! I am thrilled to be living in this comfortable, light filled home, perfect for maximum art inspiration. Just waiting on furniture delivery but otherwise fully designed. Elements include mixed metals and tones inspired by rock and clay.
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Some of my favorite things are…
The island which I made from a Husky rolling toolbox and a piece of maple plywood
The cork light fixture in the center of the space
All the windows
The shower which my son-in-law worked very hard to tile and put in the shower door
And the high ceilings and open floor plan
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And to think this was formerly a paint spray shop!
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Thanks to all the local contractors that made time in their busy schedule to help me.
Thanks to everyone at Home Depot for kindly helping this not so skilled project manager to figure things out.
Thanks to my family for helping, oh, so much.
#mainetheway #maineartist #mainethewaylifeshouldbe

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, constructing,

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, constructing, painting, moving. I am exhausted, but we are in the final days, looking forward to trading in my hammer for a camera. (Hoping to have some pics to share soon.)
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But I wanted to take time to thank Anne Kelly @photoeye_gallery for including my work in the ‘Transformations’ show and Laurie Freitag @lauriefreitagphotography @nyphotocurator for hosting the show. I am grateful and honored!
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The show can be seen here at exhibition 2: https://www.nyphotocurator.com/transformation-2020-anne-kelly/exhibition-2/3

Today’s #tbt is a street scene photo shoot with

Today’s #tbt is a street scene photo shoot with Kayla. Kayla and I have worked together for quite a few years now. She is always game for whatever crazy thing I throw at her. She has modeled jewelry, waded neck deep in murky lily ponds, and worked on conceptual studio shoots. This time I tried out a lens that is normally used for landscape photography. It slices the light in weird ways giving an out of focus slant to a portion of the scene. I thought the combination of the lens and reflections through store windows would be really cool.
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Trying to direct the lens and the model while dodging passers by was challenging for sure. Most of the shoot was unsuccessful, (due to my not anticipating just how many reflections there would be ) although there were some super interesting images that came out of it. Two made it into the final cut in my upcoming series. Pictured here are a few out takes.

Another #tbt this time with Corie De Maria. I have

Another #tbt this time with Corie De Maria. I have to say Corie is is one of the most important models I have worked with. Together we created two unique series of images that helped me define myself as the artist I am today, ‘Hidden’ and ‘Storms Inside Us.’ These three before and after shots are from the fall of 2019 Storms series. They depict the storms we feel raging inside us in a literal way, very similar to the storms that come upon us here on the Maine coast.
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Interestingly enough, the last image, ‘Storm Tide,’ is the closest thing I have to a self portrait. Closely connected to rock and ocean, my head is always in the clouds with a child-like perspective.
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#karenolsonphotography #conceptualphotography #photoseries #maineartist
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If ever there was a Wildheart it is Rachel. A wom

If ever there was a Wildheart it is Rachel. A woman so connected to the land, she is a treehugger in the truest sense. On our first shoot together on the trails of Merry Spring Park, she took off her sandals and traipsed barefoot through untamed woods and streams without missing a step. I am so grateful that she reached out to me, for our connection and collaboration.
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This first image entitled “Reaching,” Is currently included in LA Photo Curator and NY Photo Curator’s top 40 images for 2020.
https://www.laphotocurator.com/2020-top-40-images/1
Thank you @lauriefreitagphotography for including my work in the online exhibition, I am honored!
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The remainder of the images are behind the scenes, out of camera shots (except for the crop).
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#nyphotocurator #laphotocurator @laphotocurator #karenolsonphotography #mainephotographer #bts #isolationchronicles
#thebotanicalseries #naturehasit

Dynamic and expressive, dancer Emma Wilton figured

Dynamic and expressive, dancer Emma Wilton figured prominently in my work in 2020. At this photo shoot at the Art Loft (now Knox County Arts Society), I turned on the music and said “Go!” So many deeply emotional images came from this shoot. One of my favorites, the last image, is entitled “No Words.”
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It is interesting to note that the drop cloth in the background was used in many expressive painting classes at the Art Loft. I remember fondly a class with Erika Manning @erikamanningartist and also one called “Painting Big” with Kimberly Nicoll. There is certainly something to be said for expressive painting in a very big way.
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#maineart #mainephotographer #newenglandphotographer #digitalart #karenolsonphotography #betweentwoworldsphotoseries #artdocmagazine
#floatcurated

Over the moon and so excited! I have a show on the

Over the moon and so excited! I have a show on the virtual gallery on theGriffin Museum of Photography website. The show will be up until February 14th.
Thank you so very much @griffinmuseum I am thrilled and honored!!
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https://griffinmuseum.org/show/between-two-worlds/
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#karenolsonphotography #griffinmuseum #photographyshow

Another #tbt - November 2019 Photo shoots with Dev

Another #tbt - November 2019
Photo shoots with Devi are always a highly creatively explosive play date! I have been working with her for about 6 years now. She lit a spark in me, a love of portraiture and drama, for seeing things from the inside out.
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#karenolsonphotography #maineart #mainephotographer @beansinmoderation
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All words and images copyright Karen Olson Photography