Hey there, me here! I haven’t published on my blog in a bit, and I certainly haven’t provided much of a personal/professional update in even longer. Part of the self-work and growth I’ve been trudging through over the last couple of years, I’ve decided that I’ve wasted too much time. Too much time explaining myself when no explanation was needed, too much time trying to force writing when the words just weren’t there at that moment, too much time trying to stay relevant by publishing content constantly, even when I wasn’t inspired to. On that note, I’ll catch you up to speed in a very abbrevia ..read more

In-camera double exposure with my Fuji XT-1, my darling repeat client Jennifer Marley, and the orchids that I carefully escorted to the studio for the shot I dreamt up last night when I was trying to sleep. I’ve photographed Jennifer over the years celebrating other milestones of hers, and was so honored when she commissioned some maternity images from me as she awaits the birth of her little one. Inspiration struck last night and I was furiously searching to see if the idea was unique (I don’t like setting out to do things that have been done to death, and sometimes my “genius ideas” turn o ..read more

“Let the stories of who you were send shivers down the spines of our granddaughters. Let them hear about you as the woman who was Herself who did her own thing and helped others along the way.” -Tanya Markul The elegant Ms. McFayden was most certainly the first woman I thought of when I read this quote. So I thought they should go together somewhere in internet history ..read more

She told me she loved all my “twisted up” poses ..read more

Yesterday this vivacious mother of four traveled from LA to ATX to shoot with me for a second time. Since Karen first started following my work less than a year and a half ago, she has done 2 shoots with me, my mentorship program, my Vegas workshop, @theportraitmasters SBE membership, completed my Boudoir Series, and has purchased every other piece of educational material I have to offer. When I first started working with her, she was in the very beginning stages of photography...and currently, such a short time later and later in life than many would expect to learn a new craft, he ..read more

“Kara taught me that I am more beautiful than I ever knew. I honestly didn’t know until she showed me. I feel emotional just recounting this story. It’s a powerful thing to see the truth reflected back at you. I would do this every year if possible. A freedom ritual. A joy pilgrimage.” -A This image speaks to me in so many ways. The dappled light, her gorgeous skin, the pose and expression that says “I can be exhausted and powerful and beautiful simultaneously.”, and most importantly, the amazing woman in the frame who graced me with her glowing attitude, unbridled enthusiasm, contagious ene ..read more

If I would have seen her across a busy restaurant conversing with a friend, I would have 1000% introduced myself and begged her to let me photograph her. That didn’t happen, but still the universe did its thing to get this legend in front of my lens. I can hardly take credit for any of the resulting images because I didn’t direct anything. I couldn’t. It would have been a shame to, just as it would have been a shame to retouch the images. She flowed and grimaced and launched and stood up and sat down and buzzed in and out of the frame in a blur of hair and laughter. I couldn’t keep up. And I ..read more

This one right here….THIS ONE had me crying and goosebumping and rejoicing in this path of work I’ve chosen for myself. She was nothing but kind and sweet and trusting….but I could tell that she was going to be a hard sell on loving photos of herself. The woman standing in front of me was beautiful and funny and resilient and INCREDIBLE. However, my intuitive nature, along with all the words she wasn’t saying, told me that she perhaps was going to have a very difficult time seeing what I see. She’d been through SO much, and I could see the pain in her eyes as she tried not to get into it at ..read more

WILD WOMAN To nominate a wild woman for this photo project, e-mail studio@karamariestudios.com telling us how this woman owns her wild and shares her light with the world ..read more

“you will become a graveyard of all the women you once were before you rise one morning embraced by your own skin. you will swallow a thousand different names before you taste the meaning held within your own” — pavana ..read more