About Dórame Photography

Karen Dórame began taking photographs through her mother's eyes. Here she is pondering the correct f/stop as her older sister assists with a sip of cool lemonade while her mother clicks the shutter.

She was given her first camera in grammar school and couldn't wait to get the first roll of film developed. Her mother presented her with a "Baby Rollei" twin-lens reflex camera when she went off to Europe to study art in England. She took pictures of her travels until the camera was stolen in Italy.

After graduating in Communications from Brigham Young University she acquired an advertising job at the Tustin News in Orange County, California. The job ended with the birth of her first child. On the tail end of raising four children she began a career in public relations and resumed her interest in photography.

Her second child, Heidi, grew and had children of her own. She became frustrated in futile efforts to obtain a decent portrait of her one-year-old disabled son. That's when they joined together to found a nonprofit organization that trains professional photographers in ways to capture beautiful portraits of children with special needs. Dórame currently provides instruction for photographers worldwide on behalf of Special Kids Photography of America.

Visit the SKPA website at www.specialkidsphotography.com

While conducting research for the organization and for the book, Photographing Children with Special Needs (Amherst Media Publications), she was again immersed in photography. She now realizes she has returned to her first love and is enjoying every minute of it.

She especially enjoys photographing children and families—in a way that captures their "spirit" and honest spontaneity. When given the opportunity to create a lifestyle book for the family she often adds her own original verse to the page.

.

Babies

Home