About Karen
INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER AND AUTHOR
Karen S. Davis (nee Molner) began her global adventures with a camera when she was five years old. She has since photographed her exploits across four continents, capturing scenery and celebrities, presidents and princes, animals and astronauts—and one thrilling morning inside the Space Shuttle Columbia, where she assumed the commander's seat.
Santa Anita Morning Rhapsody, featured on national TV and radio, is Karen's photo portrayal of behind-the-scenes thoroughbred training at Santa Anita Park, California. Her photos and book are on display worldwide.
The book is introduced by Racing Hall of Famers Richard Mandella (trainer) and Eddie Delahoussaye (jockey) and includes tributes from Hall of Fame jockeys Gary Stevens, Laffit Pincay Jr., and Ron Turcotte (1973 Triple Crown winner on Secretariat), trainers Ron McAnally and Jack Van Berg, and many other notables. (The photo shows Karen at Pimlico for the Preakness Triple Crown race. © Rick Samuels)
MUSICIAN AND ACTOR
Karen has starred in countless stage musicals and dramas, sung and composed film soundtracks, and hosted her own TV variety hour.
She has been a soloist and choral singer at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Hollywood Bowl, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and other venues on four continents. She sang in the 2012 Mahler cycle with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar of Venezuela, and L.A. Master Chorale under conductor Gustavo Dudamel (photo shows Dudamel with Karen). She has sung many U.S. and world music premieres.
In London Karen studied with Dame Judi Dench and was music director, actor, and soloist in a medieval miracle play cycle directed by E. Martin Browne (who brought T.S. Eliot to theatre). In the U.S. she studied at the American Center for Music Theatre, L.A. Music Center, with the genre's original masters.
Karen wrote, arranged, and recorded a CD of love songs, Someone Loves.
WRITER AND EDITOR
Karen earned journalism credentials from the Thomson Organisation editorial program in the U.K., which trained its journalists for London's TIMES. (She's pictured researching an article about the British Army.) As a reporter she photographed the Prime Minister and Cabinet and wrote many articles and features.
A veteran editor for authors worldwide, Karen edited the screenplay The Sixth Sense by M. Night Shyamalan, which was nominated for an Oscar.
Her edited books have won American Library Association awards. Her writing has received numerous accolades and awards.