My inner voice was shouting "Give this girl a gig!" when I first met Karen Kuehn as Photo Editor of Travel & Leisure magazine circa 1981 - 82. We were both pretty new at the publishing game. The editors had a tight knit stable of photographers they liked to use over and over . I finally convinced them to try Karen on an assignment and everyone was glad I did. What was unique about the relationship and the nature of the collaboration with Karen was the level of trust between us. I trusted Karen's passionate commitment to her art and she trusted my ability to see it through to it's most powerful end. We had an amazing run of assignments where I would not give Karen a specific directive or tell her what the editors were envisioning for the story. I honestly remember saying "Karen I'd like you to go to this Island for a week or so, take what you need and shoot it the way you see it." Inevitably Karen would come back and tell me "the way I see will require that I use a light leaking Holga with infra red black & white film using coyote urine as a stop bath." I never questioned or regretted getting behind Karen's ideas and visions, they were so clear and pure. I just felt an obligation to do what I could to support her efforts. The readers, editors, writers, advertisers and competition judges were always blown away by her work. I think the excitement came from the element of surprise because the work was truly original, had loads of content and connection. However, it was never ever what was expected.

 

Bill Black