Carmen Rahn was born in Düsseldorf, Germany. In 1963 she successfully completed her studies with object photography at the University of Cologne (Staatl. Höheren Fachschule für Photographie, Köln). That same year she began working in the field of journalism. Since then she has repeatedly worked as a professional photographer and has traveled for research purposes and for photographic projects in many countries such as France, Italy, England, Israel, Russia, USA and Greece. Her solo exhibitions have been held in many places in Germany, Greece and Italy, and she participated in numerous group ones. She has also completed two short films and has published two photo books. Her works are held in numerous public and private collections. Since 1970 she works as a regular photography professor at the University of Düsseldorf (Fachhochschule Düsseldorf) and since 2002 she teaches Picture Theatre at the same institution.