About

Photo credit - Chena Dominguez

Photo credit / Chena Dominguez

 

  • Maura Allen has been photographing the American West for over two-plus decades. She shows and sells her work as both a fine art photographer and mixed media artist.

    Growing up in Northern California, Maura earned her BA in Latin/Classical Studies at Stanford University, studying how iconic figures, myth and moments define a culture. When she began photographing the American West with ranchers and wranglers as her trusted guides, she realized many of the same cultural forces were at play.

    Maura teaches photography-focused workshops at Santa Fe Workshops. An award-winning photographer, her work has been featured in Black & White Magazine UK, Western Art & Architecture, Cowboys & Indians Magazine and more. Maura’s mixed media work is shown in galleries nationwide and included in private, public and museum collections nationwide. She speaks frequently about the historical overlap of photography and the American West.

    Maura serves on the Board of Directors of the Leica Society International (LSI), a global community of Leica photographers and collectors; photolucida, a non-profit dedicated to building community through photography; and the Board of Trustees of the Sigler Western Museum in Wickenburg, AZ.

    Maura lives in Abiquiu, New Mexico.

  • “ECHO” | The Gallery - Leica Store San Francisco | 2025 - 2026

    Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers | 2024

    • Category Winner - Black & White/Series, Portrait, Alternative Process

    • Honorable Mention - Women by Women, Black & White, Open and Storytelling

    #2 U.S. Mobile Photographer of the Year | 2024 | One Eyeland
    Winning Portfolio mobile phone black and white rodeo series

    B&W Magazine | 2023 Portfolios Portfolio of Merit 2023

    Women by Women | 2023 | SE Center for Photography
    Juror – Laurie Klein - Photographer, Author, Educator
    Show link | Catalog

    Black, White & Monochrome | 2023 | SE Center for Photography
    Juror – Michael Foley – Founder/Owner, Foley Gallery; Faculty Member, School of Visual Arts, New York
    Show link | Catalog

    Shapes | 2nd Place Honors | 2022 | AAP Magazine
    Juror – Ann Jastrab, Executive Director, Center for Photographic Art (CPA), Carmel, California
    AAP Magazine #26 | Shapes

    "Women" | 3rd Place Honors | 2022 | All About Photo
    AAP Magazine #23 | Women
    National press coverage, including coverage in The Washington Post

    #1 Mobile Photographer of the Year | 2021 (#5 in the world) | One Eyeland
    Winning Portfolio mobile phone black and white rodeo series

    “A Woman’s View” – 2021 | SE Center for Photography
    Juror - Elinor Corruci, Author & Photographer
    Show link | Catalog

    SE Center Open 2021 | SE Center for Photography
    Juror - Douglas Beasley, Owner/Publisher, Shots Magazine
    Show link | Catalog

    Chico Review 2021 | Jury Selection
    List of jurors, keynote speakers, selected photographers

    B&W Magazine | 2021 Smartphone Annual Juried Competition
    Collection of Merit | Black & White Magazine

    “Portraits” – 2019 | Center for Fine Art Photography
    Juror - Paula Tognarelli, Executive Director & Curator, Griffin Museum of Photography

  • John Wayne Journal | “Image & Myth” | July 2024 | Article Link

    PORTFOLIO Magazine | Feb/March Feature of images Article Link

    Southwest Art Magazine | Feb/March 2023
    No Limits: Maura Allen Reimagines Mixed Media to Tell Stories of the Contemporary American West
    Article Link

    Black & White Magazine | UK
    May 2022
    Article PDF | COURTESY OF BLACK & WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY MAGAZINE (UK)

    Images Arizona
    Maura Allen | Layers of Time | January 2022
    Article link

    Western Art & Architecture | “The Next West”
    Oct/Nov 2019

    Western Art Collector | “Art from the Other Half of the West”
    March 2018

    SouthwestArt Magazine | “Geography of Hope”
    June 2017

    Cowboys & Indians | “The Contemporary Works of Maura Allen
    April 2017

    Dorado | “At Home: The Wild, Wild West”
    March 2017

    Denver Post | “New Frontier”
    January 2017

    SouthwestArt Magazine | “The Santa Fe Trail”
    2015

    Western Art Collector Magazine | “Art from the Other Half of the West”
    2015

    SouthwestArt Magazine | “Today’s West”
    Cover + Feature | 2014

    SouthwestArt Magazine | “Celebrating Women”
    2014

    SouthwestArt Magazine | “Cowgirl Up! Show Preview”
    2014

    SouthwestArt Magazine | “Spotlight”
    2012