Karen Alsop To Share ‘Story Art’ At Adobe Max

Guest Blogpost by Sue Garibaldi of Adobe.

Karen Alsop, the founder of Story Art, will be leading a session titled Story Art—Create Pictures that Tell Incredible Stories at Adobe MAX, October 18–20, in Las Vegas NV.

Story Art: Karen Alsop’s Fantastical Photographic Narratives

Her photographic and digitally-altered photographs are filled with anthropomorphized animals, peacefully surreal settings and a lack of physical and gravitational limitations. The portraits, part real-world representation and part imaginative adaptation are all possible because of the creativity, passion, and artistry of Karen Alsop, a Melbourne, Australia-based teacher/photographer/digital artist.

Composed of bits and pieces of photographs (oftentimes just lighting, an angle, or a fraction of an image), brushes she’s created in Photoshop, repeated visits to ideal locations, and stand-ins for subjects who aren’t available, every image has one thing in common: It begins with a story.

Growing Up With An Eye For Photography

Karen’s grandfather was a photographer. Hers was a childhood filled with cameras, lighting, darkrooms, and developing an eye for the perfect photograph.

Although she tagged along beside him well into her teens, learning to use the camera he bought her, it wasn’t until she got to college that she decided where to place her focus: “When I was choosing what to study at university I knew I wanted to be a teacher but I also wanted to use my photography skills. When I left university in 2001 I began my teaching career; at the same time, I started a graphic design business.” Although Karen taught elementary and high school for seven years, teaching eventually took a backseat to photography when she got her first digital SLR, the Canon 300D, and began pursuing her childhood passion more aggressively.

The result was a wedding/portrait photography business that Karen ran with her husband. But, in 2011, after having their first child, they realized it was becoming increasingly difficult to shoot weddings almost every weekend. Karen began brainstorming ways to shift the focus of her business so she could have the flex time she wanted with her growing family. About that time she also began doing more styled portraits and taking more creative license with her photography.

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