By Darlene Bowers
Possibly you’ve seen her on her bike with camera in mid-air, poised in readiness for a shot. Possibly you’ve seen her reclined in her front yard discovering the best lighting and best angle for sharing the magnificence of a hollyhock or other flower. Possibly you’ve seen her at ReStore where she’s volunteered for the past 7 ½ years.
Wherever you’ve seen her, you can be sure Karen Ward was pondering, contemplating, or dreaming of how to share her love of capturing treasures with her camera just as she did as a child on family camping trips.
Karen would use her fingers poised in a box shape before she had a real camera. “It stimulates, interests, it’s not boring. I’m taken with the beauty of earth and people and want to capture that and keep it like a treasure,” remarks Karen about her lifelong love of photography.
“The mundane fascinates me,” says Karen, “the way light falls around water dripping, morning light, and evening light. I also really like silhouettes; trees against light, forms (not necessarily faces), and the starkness. I’m always looking at and thinking about how I can take a picture of a flower for example and make it different. My favorite images are of reflections, light, shadow, and nature.”
Karen has entered photography contests including those of the Lima News and Hardin County Chamber & Business Alliance.
One of her winning entries is a black and white photo of Karen’s mother’s hands snapping beans and others feature local landmarks.
Karen’s top tip for photographers: never throw pieces away. Karen says she learned this from a previous art teacher but thinks it applies to her photographs as she’s found herself looking years later at a photo and only then seeing its real worth and beauty.
Apart from photography, Karen dotes on her family…husband Bob, four grown children and seven grandchildren. She also paints, reads, enjoys music, and has recently dabbled in mixed media and exploring e-courses to discover even more of her creativity.
Karen’s photos have a soul and a timeless quality. She shuns the modern touches and digital fixes and instead strives for a perfect shot to start. Her warm, soothing and inviting parlor filled with fiber throws and a beautiful sprig of pale flowerets in a vase on a book-laden tray is a perfect photograph in itself. The parlor embraces Karen’s photography.
Each photo in the room speaks volumes to the light, reflections, and silhouettes Karen loves to capture. So what will you see behind her next photograph? I’m sure it will be something that captured Karen and will capture all who view it as well.
Karen Ward’s photography can be found in Ada at the Artist’s Boutique on Main and the Inn at ONU gift shop.
