From People Who Have Worked With Me
'Karen Marshall has mentored me through several photography projects. The consummate teacher that she is, Karen inspires and appreciates her students. Passionate about photography, she generously shares her knowledge andresources. Rather than impose her own insights, as illuminating as they maybe, she skillfully encourages one to explore and expand his/her own vision.'--BB
'Karen Marshall truly cares about her students, and uses her intuition, knowledge, and experience to guide students to better understand their work and thereby improve it. Both during the class and long after it comes to an end she is available for advice and inspiration. I always leave her classes feeling energized, and find that her comments and insights resonate long into the future.' --CS
'Being Karen's student was a (trans)formative experience. She taught me how to look at photographs and see what was truly there (not something I wanted or thought should be there). To see what the work itself was telling me and how to learn to listen to it. I learned a tremendous amount not just about my own photography but about photography in general. Karen is thoughtful, insightful and honest with her students' work and is able to recognize and make them see the true potential of it. Listening to her talk about photography and our projects was inspiring, educational and eye-opening. Watching stories come to life under her guidance was an adventure.' --BS
'Karen Marshall is the most effective teacher of personal vision I know. She has a deep knowledge of photography and an extremelyintuitively style of teaching. She knows what to say to students when—and most importantly, how to say it to them. On the surface, her ways of forwarding a student’s path are hardly detectable. She is easy going, open-minded, and free as she works with each student, moving and compiling a student’sphotographs in a playful, seemingly insignificant way. But eventually a moment of discovery always follows, an epiphany that sometimes is so pure it surprises student and teacher alike. My favorite lesson that Karen continues to teach is that a photographer’s relationship with their photographs is a conversation: the photographs say one thing and you say another in return, and this discussion goes on until the photographs are resolved. This is testament to Karen’s inspiring and liberated teaching methodologies. She’s not there to propagate her own style of photography. She’s there to get to know students through their photographs and help them move forward in the way they desire' . --AT
'Karen is a skilled editor, photographer, and instructor as well as an absolute pleasure to be around. She is incredibly intuitive with her students and helps them to hone in on their unique photographic vision in a supportive and positive environment. Karen continues to be my trusted mentor and editor.' --SH
'I have taken many classes in the Continuing Education department at ICP, and the faculty overall has been excellent. One teacher, however, stands out as my personal favorite, and that is Karen Marshall. Karen's academic yet warm approach to viewing each student's work makes for a challenging and safe atmosphere in class. In addition, I personally have grown as a photographer because of Karen's guidance and advice. She is an excellent editor and has taught me to better assess my own photographs. --SRJ
'Karen coached me through an intensive photojournalism program at the ICP in New York and I don't think I would have been able to get through it without her constant support. Even as I've entered the professional photography world, our student/teacher relationship continues to evolve and she's one of the first people I go to for career guidance. Her ability to push me and my work with both motherly tenderness and candid ferocity is like no other. A working photographer herself, she's one of the few teacher's I've known to truly understand the inner battles a young photographer can go through. ' --CG
'I have enrolled in over 40 courses at ICP and I do not hesitate to say that Karen Marshall has been my most valuable instructor. She is largely responsible for converting me into a serious photographer from a naive snapshot shooter.She has a wonderful style of teaching. Her great editing skills change the way one approaches any photography project. She attends to psychology, sociology, and technical as well as aesthetic matters in her approach to photography.While teaching a class with students of diverse skill levels and experience, Karen Marshall, has a remarkable ability to gear her remarks to the appropriate level that will be useful for the student. I know Karen Marshall as a gifted teacher but I have also seen her own photography projects and recognize that she is a fine photographer and master of mutli-media as well. I am fortunate to know Karen Marshall. She has helped me immensely. I consider her as my mentor.' --PK
'Karen Marshall has guided me in a non intrusive way to elaborate my key themes in my photographic work and supported me to leave my comfort zone and explore new, exciting territories in the photographic field.' --CvdG
'Without Karen's class, I would have no idea how to put together a series like this. It was an amazing experience and I'll certainly be back to learn more.'--KG