Karen O'Maxfield

A native of Hartford, Connecticut, Karen O'Maxfield was raised in Elmwood and graduated Conard High School in 1969. She chose to gain her "higher education" by exploring the USA in a van with friends. After criss-crossing the country several times over a few years, she settled in Portland, Maine, married and started a family. At the age of 30, she made the decision to formalize her education and enrolled in the BFA program at the University of Southern Maine as a photography major. Karen had always been interested in photography, purchasing her first camera at age 7 with bubble gum wrappers. It was a tiny plastic model that actually worked. Through her teens and twenties, Ms. O'Maxfield kept her Kodak Instamatic close at hand, documenting activities with friends and family. When she discovered 35mm SLR technology while in art school, her interest in photography immediately became a passion. Turning towards the natural world, her desire to find the extraordinary in the simple, ordinary places and objects in her life shaped her creative vision. Returning to her native West Hartford in 1985, Ms. O'Maxfield continued to evolve her photographic vision, exhibited regularly, had photos purchased by corporate and private collectors and began seeing her work published. In 1996, she founded her own business, Studio O'Maxfield which specializes in stock photography and graphic design services.