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Lee Karen Stow started her journalistic career twenty years ago and since then has produced numerous print articles for many of the country's leading publications. In the lastΜύnine years Lee has branched out into the area of photo-journalism.

As a freelance, she's worked for The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Telegraph Special Supplements, Financial Times Expat, Country Living, The Express, The Express on Sunday, The Scotsman, CNN Traveller,Μύ Wanderlust, Travel Africa, Hello!, Bella, Real, In Britain, Travel Weekly, ABTA Magazine, ABTA Holiday Guide, and many more.

Her work has been exhibited many times and has been awarded many grants to help other people get access to photography skills. She was awarded an Arts Council England grant for 'Greetings!' Wilberforce Women 2007, a community photography project as part of Wilberforce 2007,Μύwhich took her to Freetown, Sierra Leone, in WestΜύ Africa.

Lee, with the help of an Arts Council England and Hull City Arts grant also hosted the visit to Hull of four women photographers from Freetown and implemented aΜύ further photography skills training week as part of Wilberforce Women.

Life in Leicester, Sierra Leone

Lee's photo (above) was taken in February 2007 in a hill village called Leicester in Sierra Leone. The village used to be called Kingston-Upon-Hull but the name was changed some years ago. It's of three young girls in a market place where they were selling some fruits. She'd taken a group of women she was teaching photography skillsΜύ to the village.

She describes life in Sierra Leone as very poor and life expectancy there is low. Despite the evident poverty, she says that there was great interest in photography and says that people she trained saw this as an opportunity to raise their skill levels in the hope that one day they might be escape their economically poor lifestyle.

Lee returns to Sierra Leone in January 2008 for three weeks to work on a photography project called 'Women of Sierra Leone' - my own photography - for an exhibition for International Women's Day in March 2008. She'll be living and working with women from all levels of society including a local politician to get a real sense of what life is like there.