Karen S. Davis
Encyclopedia
Karen Susan Davis is an American
photographer, author
, editor
, singer-songwriter
, and actor
. She is best known for Santa Anita Morning Rhapsody, the first coffee table book
to document morning thoroughbred
horse training
at a racetrack.
in equine photography. In 2006 a small press
in San Francisco, California, published her photography book, Santa Anita Morning Rhapsody, portraying thoroughbred training at Santa Anita Park
in Arcadia, California
. The book renders in photographs the unfamiliar behind-the-scenes racetrack routine and horse care
essential to the sport of horse racing
. In place of narrative, Davis inserted William Shakespeare equine quotations.
Davis photographed her subjects in all seasons and arranged the photos to unfold a typical day in the life of a race horse, which begins before dawn. As the sun rises she travels through stables, along the racecourse, under the grandstand
, past the statue of Seabiscuit
in the paddock
, and back to the barns, all against the backdrop of Southern California's San Gabriel Mountains
.
Horse trainer
Richard Mandella
and jockey
Eddie Delahoussaye
, both in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
, wrote the book's introduction and preface. Delahoussaye said, "All of the moments that define the morning at Santa Anita are captured in the stunning photography of this book." Testimonials and tributes, unusual in a first edition
, were written by Hall of Fame inductees Gary L. Stevens, Laffit Pincay Jr., Ron McAnally
, and Jack Van Berg
, and George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award
winners Raymond York
and Ron Turcotte
.
Davis and her book have been featured on Horse Racing TV
(HRTV), ESPN radio, and Time-Warner Cable television. Academy Award-winning producer Jim Wilson
called the book, "Magnificent. A beautifully rendered dream."
Davis's photographs hang in private and public art exhibitions around the world.
and was directed by E. Martin Browne
, who brought T.S. Eliot to theatre. After returning to the U.S. in 1982 she was chosen to study music theatre with the genre's original maestro
s at the Los Angeles Music Center
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
in California. She has had starring roles in Music Man, Guys and Dolls, The Mikado
, Sweeney Todd
, Godspell
, Anna Christie
, and other plays; starred in the indie film Former Child Star; sang soundtrack vocals for the film Steel Frontier; and hosted her own variety hour on Los Angeles public-access television
.
Davis composed the music, wrote the lyrics, and recorded a CD of love songs
, Someone Loves (1999), after her husband, James Davis, died from cancer. The CD has a worldwide fan base.
Davis has been a vocal soloist and choral singer at Carnegie Hall
, Lincoln Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall
, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
, Hollywood Bowl
, Disneyland
's millennium celebration, and major venues throughout Europe.
's editorial training program in the United Kingdom, which prepared its journalists to work for The Times
of London
. She is one of a handful of United States citizens to do so. Colleagues included a young Lionel Barber
, now Editor of the Financial Times
. Early in her career she reported for the Newcastle upon Tyne
Evening Chronicle
and The Journal
in Northumberland
, England, where she wrote her scoop
on the emerging problem of Temporomandibular joint
dysfunction. Later she worked in London for Thomson and IPC Media
publications. As a reporter she photographed Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher
and other British Cabinet members and authored articles and feature
stories.
Davis has won awards for both technical writing
and marketing from the International Geosynthetics Society and Idaho Advertising Federation. Two reference works for which she was copy editor received an American Library Association Award. Davis edited three books by Hollywood true crime
writer John Gilmore
for Amok Publishing. Grateful authors have referred to her as a "Renaissance Woman" (a polymath
), "a mere genius," and "my secret weapon in the struggle for communications supremacy."
, and graduated valedictorian
from both her Northfield junior high and Mainland Regional High School in Linwood, New Jersey
, where she holds the record for awards garnered. In three years she earned magna cum laude Bachelor of Arts
degrees in English
and history
from Tufts University
near Boston, Massachusetts.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
photographer, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, editor
Copy editing
Copy editing is the work that an editor does to improve the formatting, style, and accuracy of text. Unlike general editing, copy editing might not involve changing the substance of the text. Copy refers to written or typewritten text for typesetting, printing, or publication...
, singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
, and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. She is best known for Santa Anita Morning Rhapsody, the first coffee table book
Coffee table book
A coffee table book is a hardcover book that is intended to sit on a coffee table or similar surface in an area where guests sit and are entertained, thus inspiring conversation or alleviating boredom. They tend to be oversized and of heavy construction, since there is no pressing need for...
to document morning thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
horse training
Horse training
Horse training refers to a variety of practices that teach horses to perform certain behaviors when asked to do so by humans. Horses are trained to be manageable by humans for everyday care as well as for equestrian activities from horse racing to therapeutic horseback riding for people with...
at a racetrack.
Photographer and Author
Karen S. Davis pioneered a niche marketNiche market
A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing; therefore the market niche defines the specific product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that is intended to impact...
in equine photography. In 2006 a small press
Small press
Small press is a term often used to describe publishers with annual sales below a certain level. Commonly, in the United States, this is set at $50 million, after returns and discounts...
in San Francisco, California, published her photography book, Santa Anita Morning Rhapsody, portraying thoroughbred training at Santa Anita Park
Santa Anita Park
Santa Anita Park is a thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent racing events in the United States during the winter and in spring. With its backdrop of the purple San Gabriel Mountains, it is considered by many as the world's most beautiful race...
in Arcadia, California
Arcadia, California
Arcadia is an affluent city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, and located approximately northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains....
. The book renders in photographs the unfamiliar behind-the-scenes racetrack routine and horse care
Horse care
There are many aspects to horse care. Horses, ponies, mules, donkeys and other domesticated equids require attention from humans for optimal health and long life.-Living environment:...
essential to the sport of horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
. In place of narrative, Davis inserted William Shakespeare equine quotations.
Davis photographed her subjects in all seasons and arranged the photos to unfold a typical day in the life of a race horse, which begins before dawn. As the sun rises she travels through stables, along the racecourse, under the grandstand
Grandstand
A grandstand is a large and normally permanent structure for seating spectators, most often at a racetrack. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap all or most of the way...
, past the statue of Seabiscuit
Seabiscuit
Seabiscuit was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse in the United States. From an inauspicious start, Seabiscuit became an unlikely champion and a symbol of hope to many Americans during the Great Depression...
in the paddock
Paddock
A Paddock is an enclosure for horses. It may also refer to: People*Algernon Paddock , American politician*Charlie Paddock , American athlete and actor*Del Paddock , American baseball player...
, and back to the barns, all against the backdrop of Southern California's San Gabriel Mountains
San Gabriel Mountains
The San Gabriel Mountains Range is located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range lies between the Los Angeles Basin and the Mojave Desert, with Interstate 5 to the west and Interstate 15 to the east...
.
Horse trainer
Horse trainer
In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...
Richard Mandella
Richard Mandella
Richard Eugene Mandella is a Thoroughbred horse trainer and a member of the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame....
and jockey
Jockey
A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...
Eddie Delahoussaye
Eddie Delahoussaye
Edward J. Delahoussaye is a retired American Thoroughbred jockey from New Iberia, Louisiana.He began his career in 1968 and ten years later became the top American jockey with 384 wins...
, both in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...
, wrote the book's introduction and preface. Delahoussaye said, "All of the moments that define the morning at Santa Anita are captured in the stunning photography of this book." Testimonials and tributes, unusual in a first edition
First edition
The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed “from substantially the same setting of type,” including all minor typographical variants.- First edition :...
, were written by Hall of Fame inductees Gary L. Stevens, Laffit Pincay Jr., Ron McAnally
Ron McAnally
Ronald L. McAnally is an American Hall of Fame trainer in Thoroughbred horse racing. Called "one of the most honored and respected of North American trainers" by Thoroughbred Times Co., Inc, as a child, he and his four siblings were placed in an orphanage following the death of their mother...
, and Jack Van Berg
Jack Van Berg
John Charles "Jack" Van Berg is an American Hall of Fame horse trainer. Born into a horse racing family, his father is Hall of Fame trainer, Marion Van Berg....
, and George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award
George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award
The George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award has been presented by Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, annually since 1950 to the thoroughbred horse racing jockey in North America who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct, on and off the racetrack.The award was created...
winners Raymond York
Raymond York
Raymond York is a retired American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey who rode in a record seven consecutive decades.During his long career, Ray York rode primarily in California where he won the 1964 Hollywood Gold Cup and twice won the West Coast's most important race for three-year-old horses,...
and Ron Turcotte
Ron Turcotte
Ron Joseph Morel Turcotte, CM is a Hall of Fame thoroughbred race horse jockey best known as the rider of Secretariat, winner of the U.S. Triple Crown in 1973....
.
Davis and her book have been featured on Horse Racing TV
Horse Racing TV
HRTV is a 24-hour television based multimedia network dedicated to horseracing which features racing action from many of the sport's greatest racetracks around the world. HRTV also features other forms of equestrian competition, as well as original programming and award-winning documentaries...
(HRTV), ESPN radio, and Time-Warner Cable television. Academy Award-winning producer Jim Wilson
Jim Wilson
-Sports:* James B. Wilson , American football player and coach* Jim Wilson , American Major League Baseball player* Jim Wilson , American pitcher in Major League Baseball, 1945–1958...
called the book, "Magnificent. A beautifully rendered dream."
Davis's photographs hang in private and public art exhibitions around the world.
Musician and Actor
During her years in England (1975–1982) Karen S. Davis studied acting with Judi DenchJudi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
and was directed by E. Martin Browne
E. Martin Browne
E. Martin Browne was a British theatre director, known for his production of twentieth century verse plays. He collaborated for many years with T. S...
, who brought T.S. Eliot to theatre. After returning to the U.S. in 1982 she was chosen to study music theatre with the genre's original maestro
Maestro
Maestro is a title of extreme respect given to a master musician. The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and opera. This is associated with the ubiquitous use of Italian vocabulary for classical music terms...
s at the Los Angeles Music Center
Los Angeles Music Center
The Music Center is one of the three largest performing arts centers in the nation. Located in downtown Los Angeles, the Music Center is home to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson Theater, Mark Taper Forum and Walt Disney Concert Hall...
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is one of the halls in the Los Angeles Music Center . The Music Center's other halls include the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, and Walt Disney Concert Hall.The Pavilion has 3,197 seats spread over four tiers, with chandeliers, wide curving stairways and rich décor...
in California. She has had starring roles in Music Man, Guys and Dolls, The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
, Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as then antagonist of the Victorian penny dreadful The String of Pearls and he was later introduced as an antihero in the broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its film adaptation...
, Godspell
Godspell
Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway...
, Anna Christie
Anna Christie
Anna Christie is a play in four acts by Eugene O'Neill. It made its Broadway debut at the Vanderbilt Theatre on November 2, 1921. O'Neill received the 1922 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his work.-Plot summary:...
, and other plays; starred in the indie film Former Child Star; sang soundtrack vocals for the film Steel Frontier; and hosted her own variety hour on Los Angeles public-access television
Public-access television
Public-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...
.
Davis composed the music, wrote the lyrics, and recorded a CD of love songs
Love Songs
Love Songs, Lovesongs or The Love Songs may refer to:*Love song, a song about love-Albums:*Love Songs *Love Songs *Love Songs *Love Songs...
, Someone Loves (1999), after her husband, James Davis, died from cancer. The CD has a worldwide fan base.
Davis has been a vocal soloist and choral singer at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, Lincoln Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall
Walt Disney Concert Hall
The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, California is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, 1st and 2nd Streets, it seats 2,265 people and serves as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra and the...
, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is one of the halls in the Los Angeles Music Center . The Music Center's other halls include the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, and Walt Disney Concert Hall.The Pavilion has 3,197 seats spread over four tiers, with chandeliers, wide curving stairways and rich décor...
, Hollywood Bowl
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...
, Disneyland
Disneyland Park (Anaheim)
Disneyland Park is a theme park located in Anaheim, California, owned and operated by the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts division of the Walt Disney Company. Known as Disneyland when it opened on July 18, 1955, and still almost universally referred to by that name, it is the only theme park to be...
's millennium celebration, and major venues throughout Europe.
Journalist and Editor
Karen S. Davis earned journalism credentials from the Thomson OrganizationThomson Organization
International Thomson Organization was a development of the commercial empire founded by Lord Thomson of Fleet . It was formed in 1978 as a holding company for interests in publishing, travel, and natural resources...
's editorial training program in the United Kingdom, which prepared its journalists to work for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. She is one of a handful of United States citizens to do so. Colleagues included a young Lionel Barber
Lionel Barber
Lionel Barber is an English journalist.Barber was appointed Editor of the Financial Times in November 2005. Previously, he was the Financial Times' U.S. Managing Editor and before that, Editor of the FT's Continental European edition , during which he briefed US President George W. Bush ahead of...
, now Editor of the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
. Early in her career she reported for the Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
Evening Chronicle
Evening Chronicle
The Evening Chronicle is a daily, evening newspaper produced in Newcastle upon Tyne, covering Tyne and Wear, southern Northumberland and northern County Durham. It was founded in 1885 by Joseph Cowen...
and The Journal
The Journal
The Journal was a popular current affairs newsmagazine on CBC Television from 1982 to 1992. It aired weeknights at 10:22 pm, following The National at 10:00 pm, and expanding on stories presented on there with in-depth interviews, documentaries, and televised "town hall" meetings...
in Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
, England, where she wrote her scoop
Scoop
-Related to journalism:* Scoop , a news story, particularly connotating a new or developing story with aspects of importance and excitement, normally an exclusive for the journalist involved...
on the emerging problem of Temporomandibular joint
Temporomandibular joint
The temporomandibular joint is the joint of the jaw and is frequently referred to as TMJ. There are two TMJs, one on either side, working in unison. The name is derived from the two bones which form the joint: the upper temporal bone which is part of the cranium , and the lower jaw bone called the...
dysfunction. Later she worked in London for Thomson and IPC Media
IPC Media
IPC Media , a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc., is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year.- Origins :...
publications. As a reporter she photographed Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
and other British Cabinet members and authored articles and feature
Feature story
- Published Features & news :While the distinction between published features and news is often clear, when approached conceptually there are few hard boundaries between the two. It is quite possible to write a feature in the style of a news story, for instance...
stories.
Davis has won awards for both technical writing
Technical writing
Technical writing, a form of technical communication, is a style of writing used in fields as diverse as computer hardware and software, engineering, chemistry, the aerospace industry, robotics, finance, consumer electronics, and biotechnology....
and marketing from the International Geosynthetics Society and Idaho Advertising Federation. Two reference works for which she was copy editor received an American Library Association Award. Davis edited three books by Hollywood true crime
True crime
True crime is a non-fiction literary and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people.The crimes most commonly include murder, but true crime works have also touched on other legal cases. Depending on the writer, true crime can adhere strictly to...
writer John Gilmore
John Gilmore (writer)
John "Jonathan" Gilmore is an American author and gonzo journalist known for iconoclastic Hollywood memoirs, true crime literature and hard-boiled fiction. A motion picture, television and stage actor in Los Angeles and New York in the 1950s, his friends including James Dean and Marilyn Monroe...
for Amok Publishing. Grateful authors have referred to her as a "Renaissance Woman" (a polymath
Polymath
A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...
), "a mere genius," and "my secret weapon in the struggle for communications supremacy."
Education
Karen S. Davis grew up in Northfield, New JerseyNorthfield, New Jersey
Northfield is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 8,624.Northfield was incorporated as a city by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 21, 1905, from portions of Egg Harbor Township...
, and graduated valedictorian
Valedictorian
Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...
from both her Northfield junior high and Mainland Regional High School in Linwood, New Jersey
Linwood, New Jersey
Linwood is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 7,092.Linwood was originally incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 20, 1889, from portions of Egg Harbor Township, based on the...
, where she holds the record for awards garnered. In three years she earned magna cum laude Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degrees in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
from Tufts University
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...
near Boston, Massachusetts.