The Villages Magazine - Photo Contest Winner

V Magazine's 2005 Photo Contest Winner - Karen Paige Hillman V Magazine is the glossy magazine serving the community at The Villages in the heart of Central Florida. Karen is proud to be the winner of V Magazine's 2005 Photo Contest. This article is from their February 2006 edition. Read about it here.... Meet V Magazine's Photo Contest Winner. Written by James Combs. Since becoming a photographer 11 years ago, Karen Hillman has developed a solid reputation for producing strikingly beautiful photography. Recently, Karen entered V Magazine's photography contest. We were very impressed by her work. So much so, in fact, that she made the task of choosing a winner rather easy. We received numerous entries from very talented photographers. Undoubtedly, though, Karen's work stood out above the rest. "I'm very happy that a quality magazine company liked my photographs. I feel honored to win the contest." Karen's love of photography was born out of photographing her own children. Before long, the hobby became a passion, and she soon found herself doing portraits of children and families. She started her photography company, vintage Images, three years ago. "I love marking a moment in time and knowing the work I'm doing will end up on a family's wall and become part of their history," she said. "I've taken portraits everywhere - the beach, gardens, parks and people's backyards." One thing she particularly enjoys is hand-painted black and white photography, a process where you hand color parts of the photograph. "Some people add color via computer, but when you do it by hand it gives a magical touch", she said.