Paula T. Trout was born in Billerica, Massachusetts. She was interested in photography at an early age, always clamoring to use whatever cameras were available, desiring to document life as a photo journalist. Artists that have had the biggest impact on the way Paula approaches her art include Ansel Adams, Annie Leibovitz, Richard Avedon, Edward Weston, Miki Asai, along with Vincent van Gogh, and Johannes Vermeer.

Paula has studied Bio-Chemistry and Classics at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, completed a certificate in photography from C1M Photography, along with a B.A. in Digital Photography from SNHU.

From 2011 through 2015, she worked as a photographer for Lifetouch Studios, where she focused on traditional posed portraiture in a retail setting During this time, her work was recognized in the chairman's challenge of 2012, and her work was used in a national advertising campaign for the company in 2014. From 2015 through 2020, she taught sewing lessons at Angels Sewing and Vacuum Center in Salem, NH. From 2020 through 2023, Paula taught visual art, sewing, yearbook and photography at the Arts Academy of New Hampshire in Salem, NH. She currently teaches small group sewing and photography lessons on her own and is a freelance photographer.