Karen Pulfer Focht

About Me

Karen Pulfer Focht is a freelance photojournalist who has won numerous awards in her career, many for in-depth documentary-style projects about children and families in Memphis, TN. Her work is regularly published in newspapers and magazines around the world. 

Prior to working for herself, she was a staff photographer for The Commercial Appeal, a preeminent Mid-South newspaper renowned for its outstanding photojournalism while owned by Scripps Howard.

Karen got her start at the newspapers near her hometown of Chicago, where she also studied photography at Columbia College. From there, she went to the Post-Tribune in Northwest Indiana, where she was named Indiana Photographer of the Year as a rookie. While at The Commercial Appeal, her photo assignments took her to the White House, New Zealand, Peru, China, and France. She was chosen as a photographer for the book project “America 24/7.” The “America 24/7” team of top photojournalists took extraordinary pictures of an ordinary week in America.