Karin Szekessy went freelance in 1966 and established her own studio in 1974. She photographed for the German magazine Kristall in 1962-1966 and taught fashion photography at the Hamburg Arts School from 1967 to 1970.

Karin Szekessy has been a freelance photographer since 1970. Originally working in black-and-white, she later revived the old heliographic printing process. She had also photographed a portrait series of fellow artists entitled Zeitgenossen (Contemporaries; 1962-1967) and taught fashion photography at the Hamburg Werkkunstschule (1967-1969). She has photographed Mediterranean landscapes, and in 1984-1987 shot covers for a series of detective novels published by Ullstein.